Live Index – Wed, 26 Aug 2015 Premarket

September E-mini S&Ps (ESU15 +1.87%) are up +1,76% on increased M&A activity after Schlumberger Ltd. agreed to buy Cameron for $ 14.8 billion. Strength in technology stocks is another positive with Google up over 3% in pre-market trading after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘Conviction Buy.’ European stocks are down -1.00% as they followed Chinese stocks lower after China’s Shanghai Composite erased a gain of almost 4% to close down over 1%. Miners and energy producers are leading losses in European stocks with the price of copper (HGU15 -2.62%) down -2.70% and with Transocean Ltd. down 10% in pre-market trading after the company said it may quit paying a dividend. Asian stocks closed mixed: Japan +3.20%, Hong Kong -1.52%, China -1.27%, Taiwan +0.52%, Australia +0.69%, Singapore -0.46%, South Korea +2.08%, India -1.22%. China’s Shanghai Composite erased an early rally and closed down at an 8-1/4 month low despite Tuesday’s action by the PBOC to cut interest rates. The Chinese government has halted intervention in the equity market this week which has prompted liquidation of stocks from margin traders. China’s margin debt has plunged by 1 trillion yuan ($ 156 billion) to 1.25 trillion yuan on Monday from a record high 2.27 trillion yuan on Jun 18. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index recovered from a 6-1/4 month low and closed higher on bargain hunting and increased M&A activity after Nippon Life Insurance agreed to buy Mitsui Life Insurance for 400 billion yen ($ 2.5 billion).

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.07%) is up +0.02%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.82% after comments from ECB Executive Board member Praet signal the ECB may boost its stimulus measures when he said the downside risks to the ECB’s inflation goal have increased. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.63%.

Sep T-note prices (ZNU15 +0.18%) are up +9 ticks.

ECB Executive Board member Praet said that “recent developments in the world economy and commodity markets have increased the downside risk of achieving the sustainable inflation path towards 2.0%” and there should be “no doubt that the ECB will act if needed.”

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) weekly MBA mortgage applications (previous +3.6% with purchase sub-index -1.1% and refi sub-index +7.2%), (2) July durable goods orders (expected -0.4% and +0.4% ex-transportation, Jun +3.4% and +0.6% ex transportation), (3) New York Fed President William Dudley’s responds to questions after a press briefing on the local and regional economy, (4) the Treasury’s auction of $ 35 billion of 5-year T-notes and $ 13 billion of 2-year floating rate notes.

There are 5 of the Russell 1000 companies that report earnings today: Brown-Forman (consensus $ 0.75), Williams-Sonoma (0.58), PVH (1.29), Avago Technologies (2.14), Workday (-0.06).

U.S. IPO’s scheduled to price today include: none.

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: 9th Annual South East Asia Australia Offshore & Onshore Conference on Tue-Wed, 9th Annual Mining the Territory Conference on Wed, Pareto Healthcare Conference on Fri.

Amazon.com (AMZN +0.65%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Evercore ISI.

Best Buy (BBY +12.57%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Raymond James.

Express (EXPR +1.14%) reported Q2 EPS of 25 cents, higher than consensus of 16 cents.

BHP Billiton (BHP +2.30%) was upgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Underperform’ at RBC Capital.

Healthcare Trust (HTA -3.40%) and Healthcare Realty Trust (HR -2.56%) were both upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Stifel.

Cooper Companies (COO -0.33%) were upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Sector Weight’ at KeyBanc.

Schlumberger (SLB -1.83%) agreed to acquire Cameron (CAM -0.96%) in deal valued at $ 14.8 billion.

Google (GOOG -1.28%) rose over 3% in pre-market trading after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘Conviction Buy’ from ‘Neutral.’

Transocean (RIG -0.49%) fell over 5% in pre-market trading after it announced that the company will convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on October 29 to discuss the possible cancellation of the Q3 and Q4 installments of its annual dividend.

Oshkosh Defense (OSK +1.53%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it was awarded a $ 6.7 billion contract with the U.S. Army to manufacture 17,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

Jack Henry (JKHY -0.11%) reported Q4 EPS of 75 cents, higher than consensus of 67 cents.

Dycom (DY +1.57%) reported Q4 non-GAAP EPS of 97 cents, well above consensus of 83 cents.

NextEra Energy Partners (NEP -7.28%) was initiated with an ‘Outperform’ at Baird with a price target of $ 43.

Solera (SLH +1.09%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 81 cents, better than consensus of 80 cents.

CBRE Group (CBG -2.77%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Sterne Agee CRT wit a price target of $ 42.

Sep E-mini S&Ps (ESU15 +1.87%) this morning are up +33.00 points (+1.76%). Tuesday’s closes: S&P 500 -1.35%, Dow Jones -1.29%, Nasdaq -0.55%. The S&P 500 rallied sharply early Tuesday but erased the advance and closed lower. Stocks fell on concern that the slowdown in China may be worse than expected and that even Tuesday’s Chinese rate cut will not be enough to spur growth. Stocks rallied early Tuesday on China’s fifth rate cut in nine months and on the +10.5 point jump in the U.S. Aug consumer confidence (Conference Board) to 101.5, stronger than expectations of +3.5 to 93.4 and the highest in 7 months.

Sep 10-year T-notes (ZNU15 +0.18%) this morning are up +9 ticks. Tuesday’s closes: TYU5 -1-4.5/32, FVU5 -17.25. Sep T-notes on Tuesday closed sharply lower on (1) reduced safe-haven demand for T-notes as global stock markets rallied sharply on the Chinese rate cut, and (2) the large-than-expected increase in U.S. Aug consumer confidence to a 7-month high.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.07%) this morning is up +0.020 (+0.02%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0094 (-0.82%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.75 (+0.63%). Tuesday’s closes: Dollar Index +1.198 (+1.286%), EUR/USD -0.01019 (-1.02%), USD/JPY +0.432 (+0.36%). The dollar index on Tuesday closed higher on reduced safe-haven demand for the yen as USD/JPY and global stock markets rallied sharply after China cut interest rates. EURUSD saw weakness on speculation the ECB may expand stimulus measures after ECB Vice President Constancio said medium-term inflation risks in the Eurozone are “very low” and the ECB may respond to any material change to the outlook for price stability.

Oct crude oil (CLV15 +0.46%) this morning is up +13 cents (+0.33%) and Oct gasoline (RBV15 -1.93%) is down -0.0295 (-2.28%). Tuesday’s closes: CLV5 +1.07 (+2.80%), RBV5 -0.0103 (-0.79%). Oct crude and gasoline on Tuesday settled mixed. Crude oil prices received a boost from the Chinese rate cut, which may help revive China’s economic growth and energy demand, and from the larger-than-expected jump in U.S. Aug consumer confidence to a 7-month high. Negative factors included a stronger dollar, weakness in gasoline after BP restarted its 235,000 bpd refinery in Whiting, IN, and expectations that Wednesday’s EIA crude inventories report will show an increase of +2.0 million bbl.