Live Index – Wed, 04 Nov 2015 Premarket

December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ15 +0.14%) are up +0.11% and European stocks are up +0.61% at a 2-1/2 month high on expectations of further stimulus from the ECB. Comments made late yesterday after European markets closed from ECB President Draghi gave stocks and European government bonds a boost when he said the ECB is “willing and able” to act to support the recovery. Also, energy producers and basic-resource companies gained as the price of crude oil and copper moved higher. On the negative side, automakers were lower led by a nearly 9% plunge in Volkswagen AG, as the emissions scandal widened after the company said it found faulty emissions readings for the first time in gasoline-powered vehicles. Asian stocks settled mostly higher: Japan +1.30%, Hong Kong +2.15%, China +4.31%, Taiwan +1.65%, Australia +0.06%, Singapore +1.36%, South Korea +0.08%, India -0.14%. China’s Shanghai Composite climbed to a 2-1/4 month high on speculation the government will continue to support the recovery after comments made after Asian markets closed Tuesday from Chinese President Xi Jinping that China GDP should be no less than 6.5% over the next 5 years.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.20%) is up +0.25%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.26% after comments from ECB President Draghi bolstered expectations for additional ECB stimulus. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.13%.

Dec T-note prices (ZNZ15 +0.11%) are up +1.5 ticks.

Speaking as part of a panel on financial stability at an event hosted by the ECB, Fed Governor Brainard said he sees some encouraging aspects for the U.S. economic outlook but there are still some elements of slack in the U.S. economy. He added that core inflation “has remained somewhat below target” and that the Fed is carefully monitoring inflation expectations.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Fed Governor Lael Brainard’s participation in a panel discussion on financial stability at the ECB in Frankfurt, (2) weekly MBA mortgage applications (previous -3.5% with purchase mortgage sub-index -3.1% and refi sub-index -3.8%), (3) welcoming remarks by Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker at an event on capital for communities in Philadelphia, PA, (4) Oct ADP employment (expected +180,000, Sep +200,000), (5) Sep U.S. trade deficit (expected -$ 41.00 billion, -$ 48.33 billion), (6) final-Oct Markit services PMI (expected +0.2 to 54.6, prelim-Oct -0.7 to 54.4), (7) Oct ISM non-manufacturing index (expected -0.4 to 56.5, Sep -2.1 to 56.9), (8) Fed Chair Yellen’s appearance before the House Financial Services Committee on bank regulation, (9) the Treasury’s auction of $ 26 billion of 2-year T-notes, (10) New York Fed President William Dudley’s speech on the economy in New York, and (11) Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer’s speech to the National Economists Club.

There are 26 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today with notable reports including: Facebook (consensus $ 0.52), Metlife (0.76), Prudential Financial (2.42), Transocean (0.65), Time Warner (1.09), Motorola Solutions (0.73), Marathon Oil (-0.41), Whole Foods (0.35),

U.S. IPO’s scheduled to price today: HC2 Holdings (HCHC), Kura Oncology (KURO).

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: Goldman Sachs Industrials Conference on Tue-Wed, Citi China Investor Conference on Wed, Citi Industrials Conference on Wed, Citi Global Health Care Conference on Thu, Needham Next Generation Storage Networking Conference on Thu, Bernstein Technology Innovation Summit on Thu-Fri, BancAnalysts Association of Boston Conference on Thu-Fri.

Tesla (TSLA -2.54%) soared 8% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q3 adjusted loss of -58 cents, a bigger loss than consensus of -56 cents, but said it will deliver 17,000 to 19,000 vehicles in Q4, more than the 16,820 vehicles needed to reach its full-year target of 50,000 to 52,000 vehicles.

Allergan Plc (AGN -1.78%) reported Q3 EPS of $ 3.48, better than consensus of $ 3.18.

Becton Dickson (BDX +1.26%) reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.94, higher than consensus of $ 1.90.

Groupon (GRPN +5.22%) plunged over 25% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 5 cents, more than double consensus of 2 cents, but then lowered guidance on Q4 revenue to $ 815 million-$ 865 million, well below consensus of $ 956.3 million.

Nortek (NTK +1.13%) lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 net sales to $ 2.500 billion-$ 2.515 billion from an earlier estimate of $ 2.500 billion-$ 2.575 billion, below consensus of $ 2.560 billion.

U.S. Steel (X +0.94%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q3 EPS loss of -70 cents, a much wider loss than consensus of -20 cents and said it sees “significantly” lower shipments and average realized prices than previously projected for 2015.

Diplomat Pharmac (DPLO +1.88%) surged over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 26 cents, well above consensus of 16 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to 69 cents-73 cents from 56 cents-60 cents, above consensus of 59 cents.

Zendesk (ZEN +1.30%) jumped over 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS loss of -5 cents, a smaller loss than consensus of -9 cents.

MasTec (MTZ -0.81%) reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 26 cents, below consensus of 34 cents, and then lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 revenue to $ 4.1 billion-$ 4.15 billion, less than consensus of $ 4.27 billion.

Papa John’s (PZZA -5.80%) slid over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 45 cents, right on consensus, but reported Q3 revenue of $ 389.3 million, below consensus of $ 398.4 million.

Zillow (Z +3.65%) fell over 8% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected Q3 EPS profit of 7 cents, better than consensus for a -3 cent loss, but lowered guidance on Q4 revenue to $ 165 million-$ 170 million, below consensus of $ 179.1 million.

Parker Drilling (PKD -0.33%) reported a Q3 adjusted loss of -10 cents, a smaller loss than consensus of -13 cents.

Dec E-mini S&Ps (ESZ15 +0.14%) this morning are up +2.25 points (+0.11%). Tuesday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.27%, Dow Jones +0.50%, Nasdaq +0.32%. The S&P 500 on Tuesday rallied to a 3-1/4 month high and closed higher on underlying support from better-than-expected Q3 earnings and a rally in energy producers after crude oil prices climbed to a 2-week high. Stocks were undercut by the -1.0% decline in U.S. Sep factory orders, weaker than expectations of -0.9%.

Dec 10-year T-notes (ZNZ15 +0.11%) this morning are up +1.5 ticks. Tuesday’s closes: TYZ5 -8.50, FVZ5 -5.00. Dec T-notes on Tuesday tumbled to a 2-1/2 month nearest-futures low and closed lower on reduced safe-haven demand with the rally in the S&P 500 to a 3-1/4 month high and on increased inflation expectations after the 10-year T-note inflation breakeven rate rose to a 1-1/2 month high.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.20%) this morning is up +0.247 (+0.25%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0029 (-0.26%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.16 (+0.13%). Tuesday’s closes: Dollar Index +0.230 (+0.24%), EUR/USD -0.0052 (-0.47%), USD/JPY +0.31 (+0.26%). The dollar index on Tuesday closed higher on the jump in the 10-year T-note yield to a 2-1/2 month high and weakness in EUR/USD on divergent central bank policies with the Fed expected to raise interest rates while the ECB is expected to maintain or even expand QE.

Dec crude oil (CLZ15 +0.52%) this morning is up +9 cents (+0.19%) and Dec gasoline (RBZ15 +1.35%) is up +0.0137 (+0.95%). Tuesday’s closes: CLZ5 +1.54 (+3.34%), RBZ5 +0.0657 (+4.78%). Dec crude oil and gasoline prices on Tuesday closed higher with Dec crude at a 2-week high and Dec gasoline at a 3-week high. Crude oil and gasoline prices rallied on expectations that Wednesday’s weekly EIA data will show gasoline inventories fell -1.25 million bbl and the jump in the crack spread to a 1-month high, which may increase refinery demand for crude as refiners boost gasoline production to take advantage of the improved profit margins.