Live Index – Fri, 18 Dec 2015 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 -0.43%) are down -0.43% and European stocks are down 1.18% as energy producer companies decline after the price of crude oil (CLF16 -0.80%) drops -1.34% to a new 6-3/4 year low and natural gas prices slump -0.57% to a fresh 16-1/2 year low as increased production and above-normal U.S. winter temperatures boosts supplies. Asian stocks settled mostly lower: Japan -1.90%, Hong Kong -0.53%, China -0.03%, Taiwan -0.75%, Australia +0.09%, Singapore -0.29%, South Korea -0.48%, India -1.10%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index initially jumped to a 2-week high after the BOJ announced a new program of ETF purchases, but then fell back and closed sharply lower on disappointment over the size of the program as the BOJ announced 300 billion yen ($ 2.5 billion) of new purchases, only one tenth the size of its current ETF purchases.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.39%) is down -0.39%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.10%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -1.13% as it fell back sharply from a 2-week high as further analysis of the BOJ’s new ETF program indicate a fine-tuning rather than an extension expansion of stimulus.

Mar T-note prices (ZNH16 +0.28%) are up +9.5 ticks.

The BOJ as expected kept its QE purchase program at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($ 656 billion), but lengthened the average maturities of Japanese government bonds it buys to 7 to 12 years from 7 to 10 years currently. In addition to its annual purchase of 3 trillion worth of ETFs, the BOJ established a new program to buy 300 billion yen ($ 2.5 billion) in ETFs that target companies investing “proactively in physical and human capital” and start from Apr 2016 with ETFs tracking the JPX-Nikkei Index 400.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) preliminary-Dec Markit U.S. services PMI (expected -0.2 to 55.9, Nov +1.3 to 56.1), (2) Dec Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey (expected +1 to 2, Nov +2 to 1), (3) Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker’s delivery of his 2016 U.S. economic forecast to the Charlotte chamber of commerce, and (4) USDA Nov Cattle on Feed.

There are 5 of the Russell 1000 companies that report earnings today: Lennar (consensus $ 1.11), CarMax (0.68), Darden Restaurants (0.42), Carnival (0.41), Liberty Ventures (0.25).

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

Equity conferences: European Society for Medical Oncology Asia Congress on Fri.

Texas Instruments (TXN -2.65%) was downgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Bernstein with a 12-month price target of $ 62.

CarMax (KMX -2.57%) reported Q3 EPS of 63 cents, below consensus of 68 cents.

Lennar (LEN -3.58%) reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.21, higher than consensus of $ 1.11.

Darden Restaurants (DRI -1.52%) reported Q2 EPS of 54 cents, better than consensus of 42 cents.

Red Hat (RHT +0.11%) jumped over 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 48 cents, above consensus of 46 cents.

AK Steel (AKS -6.85%) fell 1% in after-hours trading after it forecast a Q4 loss of 33 cents-38 cents, a much wider loss than estimates of -15 cents.

Transocean (RIG -2.48%) slipped nearly 2% in after-hours trading after Statoil ASA said it canceled its drillship contract with Transocean before its scheduled expiration due to a lack of work.

Rambus (RMBS -0.51%) rose almost 2% in after-hours trading after it announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft researchers on future memory requirements for quantum computing.

Knight Transportation (KNX -2.23%) tumbled 10% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q4 EPS to 31 cents-33 cents from a prior view of 36 cents-38 cents, below consensus of 37 cents.

PHH Corp. (PHH -1.55%) gained more than 3% in after-hours trading after it reported an agreement with Bank of America to provide mortgage origination services to Merrill Lynch clients.

Duluth Holdings (DLTH -4.03%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 4 cents, better than consensus of no change.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT -4.76%) dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration delayed a review of its liver-disease drug by 3 months to gather additional information.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 -0.43%) this morning are down -8.75 points (-0.43%). Thursday’s closes: S&P 500 -1.50%, Dow Jones -1.43%, Nasdaq -1.42%. The S&P 500 on Thursday fell back from a 1-week high and closed sharply lower on weakness in raw-material and commodity producing stocks after the Reuters/CRB Continuous Commodity Index (CCI) fell to a 6-1/2 year low. Stocks were also undercut by the -7.8 point decline in the Dec Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey to -5.9, weaker than expectations of -0.9 to 1.0.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH16 +0.28%) this morning are up +9.5 ticks. Thursday’s closes: TYH6 +12.00, FVH6 +1.00. Mar T-notes on Thursday closed higher on carryover support from Wednesday’s post-FOMC meeting statement that said the FOMC sees conditions warranting “only gradual” interest increases going forward. T-notes also received a boost from the contraction in the Dec Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey (-7.8 to -5.9 vs. expectations of -0.9 to 1.0) and from weakness in stocks that boosted the safe-haven demand for Treasuries.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.39%) this morning is down -0.387 (-0.39%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0011 (+0.10%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -1.38 (-1.13%). Thursday’s closes: Dollar Index +1.399 (+1.43%), EUR/USD -0.0086 (-0.79%), USD/JPY +0.35 (+0.29%). The dollar index on Thursday rose to a 2-week high and closed sharply higher on better-than-expected U.S. economic data on weekly jobless claims and Nov leading indicators. EUR/USD fell to a 1-week low after the German Dec IFO business climate unexpectedly fell -0.3 to 108.7, weaker than expectations of no change at 109.0.

Jan crude oil (CLF16 -0.80%) this morning is diwn -47 cents (-1.34%) to a frsh 6-3/4 year low and Jan gasoline (RBF16 +0.55%) is up +0.0051 (+0.40%_. Thursday’s closes: CLF6 -0.57 (-1.60%), RBF6 +0.0265 (+2.12%). Jan crude oil and gasoline on Thursday settled mixed. Crude oil prices were undercut by the rally in the dollar index to a 2-week high and by negative carryover from Wednesday’s EIA report showing an unexpected +4.8 million bbl increase in EIA crude inventories to a 7-1/2 month high of 490.7 million bbl, the highest for this time of year since EIA data began in 1930. Gasoline closed higher on the prospects for increased consumer demand as the recent plunge in prices along with the warmer-than-normal winter weather may persuade more drivers to take to the road this Christmas holiday season.