Live Index – Tue, 12 Jan 2016 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.72%) are up +0.60% and European stocks are up +1.84% as China’s stock market stabilized. The Mar E-mini S&P shook off overnight losses and European stocks recovered from a 3-1/4 month low after China’s Shanghai Composite rebounded from a 4-1/4 month low late in the session and closed higher. The PBOC repeatedly intervened in the offshore market today in support of the yuan and the cost of borrowing the yuan overnight in Hong Kong’s interbank market jumped to a record 66.82%. The British pound tumbled -0.85% to a 5-1/2 year low against the dollar after UK Nov industrial production unexpectedly fell by the most in 2-3/4 years. Asian stocks mostly lower: Japan -2.71%, Hong Kong -0.89%, China +0.20%, Taiwan -0.26%, Australia -0.14%, Singapore -0.63%, South Korea -0.12%, India -0.58%.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.23%) is up +0.20%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD)is down -0.01%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.05%.

Mar T-note prices (ZNH16 -0.22%) are down -8 ticks.

Dallas Fed President Kaplan said that projections for four quarter-point rate hikes from the Fed this year are not “baked in the cake” and that the Fed will probably not have enough data before its next meeting later this month to form a decision on rates. He added that “it seems probable that the world will have to adjust to lower levels of Chinese growth in the years ahead,” which could further impact commodity prices and “create headwinds for GDP growth in the U.S. and other economies.”

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Nov JOLTS job openings (expected +42,000 to 5.425 million, Oct -151,000 to 5.383 million), (2) the Treasury’s auction of $ 24 billion 3-year T-notes, and (3) Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker’s speech on the U.S. economic outlook to the annual meeting of the South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee.

There are 2 of the Russell 1000 companies that report earnings today: IHS Corp (consensus $ 1.56), CSX Corp (0.46).

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

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week: North American International Auto Show (Detroit) – Press Days on Mon-Tue, J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference on Mon-Thu, Needham & Company Growth Conference on Tue, Deutsche Bank Global Auto Conference on Tue-Wed.

Apple (AAPL +1.62%) rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading after it was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Bank of America.

Wells Fargo (WFC +1.07%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at KBW.

Tesla Motors (TSLA -1.49%) gained over 1% in pre-market trading after CEO Elon Musk said that within 2 years he sees the possibility of self-driving cars traveling from Los Angeles to New York.

Lululemon (LULU +1.52%) climbed over 8% in pre-market trading after it raised guidance on Q4 EPS to 78 cents-80 cents from a previous forecast of 75 cents-78 cents, higher than consensus of 77 cents.

Ilumina (ILMN +0.33%) climbed over 1% in pre-market trading after it said it formed a new company called Grail, to develop a cancer-screening blood test with investments from Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU +1.50%) gained 3% in after-hours trading after the company said it is sticking to plans to expand production in China this year despite market turmoil and that it expects Jeep sales to at least double in China this year from 89,000 in 2015.

Ascena Retail Group (ASNA -7.72%) reported comparable same-store-sales from Nov 21 to Jan 3 fell 4% and then lowered guidance on Q2 EPS to break-even to a loss of -3 cents, weaker than a previous estimate of a 2 cent profit and below consensus of 5 cents.

Hain Celestial (HAIN -0.44%) lowered guidance on Q2 EPS to 53 cents-56 cents, below consensus of 57 cents, and then lowered its 2016 fiscal EPS estimate to $ 1.95-$ 2.10, below consensus of $ 2.12.

Under Armour (UA -6.72%) rose 1% in after-hours trading after SunTrust said weakness in UA is a long-term buying opportunity as fundamentals remain intact and “significant” growth remains.

Burlington Stores (BURL +2.81%) jumped over 8% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q4 comparable same-store-sales up 4% excluding cold weather.

Alcoa (AA -0.87%) rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 4 cents, double expectations of 2 cents.

Apollo Education (APOL -3.19%) surged nearly 20% in after-hours trading after Dow Jones reported that people familiar with the situation said Apollo Global Management LLC could pay $ 1 billion for APOL.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.72%) this morning are up +11.50 points (+0.60%). Monday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.09%, Dow Jones +0.32%, Nasdaq +0.30%. The S&P 500 on Monday recovered from a 3-1/4 month low and closed higher on strength in the yuan against the dollar and on a rally in consumer staples and discretionary stocks. Stocks were undercut by Monday’s -5% plunge in China’s Shanghai Composite to a 3-3/4 month low and by weakness in energy, raw material producers and mining stocks as the CCI Commodity index fell to a 6-3/4 year low.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH16 -0.22%)this morning are down -8 ticks. Monday’s closes: TYH6 -1.50, FVH6 +1.00. Mar T-notes on Monday fell back from a 2-1/2 month high and closed lower on reduced safe-haven demand for T-notes after the S&P 500 recovered from a 3-1/4 month low and on supply pressures as the Treasury auctions $ 58 billion of T-notes and T-bonds this week.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.23%) this morning is up +0.201 (+0.20%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0001 (-0.01%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.06 (-0.05%). Monday’s closes: Dollar Index +0.185 (+0.19%), EUR/USD -0.0063 (-0.58%), USD/JPY +0.50 (+0.43%). The dollar index on Monday closed higher on positive carryover from Friday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. Dec payroll report, which bolsters the case for the Fed to continue to raise interest rates. In addition, there was weakness in EUR/USD after Eurozone Jan Sentix investor confidence fell more than expected to a 1-year low.

Feb crude oil (CLG16 -0.51%) this morning is down 3 cents (-0.10%) at a new 12-year low and Feb gasoline (RBG16 +0.86%) is up +0.0124 (+1.11%). Monday’s closes: CLG6 -2.03 (-6.12%), RBG6 -0.0206 (-1.83%). Feb crude oil and gasoline on Monday sold off sharply with Feb crude at a 12-year low and Feb gasoline at a 6-3/4 year low. Crude oil prices were undercut by Chinese economic concerns after China Dec producer prices fell for a record 46th consecutive month and fell at the fastest pace in 6-1/2 years. Crude oil prices were also undercut by concern that Iranian sanctions may be lifted sooner than earlier thought and by Morgan Stanley’s comment that crude prices could fall toward $ 20 a barrel if China tries to swiftly depreciate its currency.