Live Index – Thu, 28 Jan 2016 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.24%) are up +0.08% as a 12% jump in Facebook in pre-market trading leads technology stocks higher. Also, crude oil (CLH16 +0.03%) is up +0.40% at a 2-week high and is leading energy producers higher. European stocks fell back from a 2-week high and are down -1.85 % as a 4% decline in Roche leads European drug companies lower and a 3% drop in Deutsche Bank AG leads European bank stocks lower. Also, a bigger-than-expected decline in Eurozone Jan economic confidence to a 5-month low undercut equity prices. The weakness in European stocks gave Eurozone government debt prices a boost as the 10-year German bund yield tumbled to an 8-1/2 month low of 0.414%. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan -0.71%, Hong Kong +0.75%, China -2.92%, Taiwan +0.70%, Australia +0.60%, Singapore +0.64%, South Korea +0.24%, India -0.09%. Asian shipbuilders declined and lead Chinese and Japanese equity markets lower after the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs, dropped to a 30-year low.

The dollar index (DXY00 unch) is down -0.06%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.20% at a 1-week high. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.09%.

Mar T-note prices (ZNH16 unch) are little changed, down -0.5 of a tick.

Eurozone Jan economic confidence fell -1.7 to 105.0, weaker than expectations of -0.4 to 106.4 and a 5-month low.

UK Q4 GDP rose +0.5% q/q and +1.9% y/y, right on expectations.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) weekly initial unemployment claims (expected -12,000 to 281,000, previous +10,000 to 293,000) and continuing claims (expected +10,000 to 2.218 million, previous 56,000 to 2.208 million), (2) Dec durable goods orders (expected -0.7% and -0.1% ex-transportation, Nov unch and unch ex-transportation), (3) Dec pending home sales (expected +0.9% m/m and +4.8% y/y, Nov -0.9% m/m and +5.1% y/y), (4) Jan Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (expected -1 to -10, Dec -10 to -9), and (5) the Treasury’s auction of $ 29 billion 7-year T-notes.

There are 52 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today with notable reports including: Amazon (consensus $ 1.55), Microsoft (0.71), Visa (0.68), Caterpillar (0.69), Nasdaq (0.88), Ford (0.51), Time Warner Cable (1.77), PulteGroup (0.49), Abbott Labs (0.61).

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

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week: none.

Facebook (FB -2.97%) is up over 12% in pre-market trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 79 cents, above consensus of 68 cents.

Hallibuton (HAL +0.41%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Accumulate’ at KLR Group with a price target of $ 44.

Ford Motor (F -3.34%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 58 cents, better than consensus of 51 cents.

EBay (EBAY -0.86%) sank over 10% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS to $ 1.82-$ 1.87, below consensus of $ 1.98, and said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 43 cents-45 cents, weaker than consensus of 48 cents.

Paypal (PYPL -1.19%) rose 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 36 cents, higher than consensus of 34 cents.

Juniper Networks (JNPR -0.41%) slumped over 9% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q1 adjusted EPS to 42 cents-46 cents, below consensus of 47 cents.

Discover Financial Services (DFS +0.68%) tumbled over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.14, below consensus of $ 1.30.

SanDisk (SNDK +0.19%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $ 1.26, higher than consensus of 90 cents.

Texas Instruments (TXN -0.06%) rose over 2% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 GAAP EPS ex-benefits of 71 cents, above consensus of 69 cents.

United Rentals (URI -1.85%) sank over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $ 2.19, below consensus of $ 2.33.

ServiceNow (NOW -3.32%) slumped over 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 billings of $ 365.7 million, below forecasts of $ 370 million-$ 375 million, and said it sees 2016 revenue of $ 1.34 billion-$ 1.37 billion, below consensus of $ 1.37 billion.

Teradyne (TER +0.61%) jumped 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 13 cents, higher than consensus of 10 cents, and then raised guidance on Q1 EPS to 23 cents-29 cents, above consensus of 18 cents.

Mellanox Technologies (MLNX +0.46%) climbed over 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 90 cents, well above consensus of 70 cents.

InvenSense (INVN -5.78%) dropped 6% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on Q4 EPS to $ 0.00 to up 2 cents, below consensus of 12 cents.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.24%) this morning are up +1.50 points (+0.08%). Wednesday’s closes: S&P 500 -1.09%, Dow Jones -1.38%, Nasdaq -2.48%. The S&P 500 on Wednesday closed lower on negative carryover from the -0.52% drop in China’s Shanghai Composite to a 13-3/4 month low, weakness in technology stocks after Apple fell by more than 6% on smaller-than-expected Q2 revenue indications, and some disappointment that the FOMC’s post-meeting statement was not more dovish.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH16 unch) this morning are down -0.5 of a tick. Wednesday’s closes: TYH6 +8.50, FVH6 +4.75. Mar T-notes on Wednesday closed higher on the slide in stocks that boosted the safe-haven demand for T-notes, and the post-FOMC meeting statement said that the Fed was watching global developments closely and that it expects to raise interest rates at a “gradual” pace. Gains were limited after U.S. Dec new home sales rose at the fastest pace in 10 months.

The dollar index (DXY00 unch) this morning is down -0.059 (-0.06%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0022 (+0.20%) at a 1-week high. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.11 (+0.09%). Wednesday’s closes: Dollar Index -0.458 (-0.46%), EUR/USD +0.0023 (+0.21%), USD/JPY +0.26 (+0.22%). The dollar index on Wednesday closed lower as the post-FOMC meeting statement adopted more dovish language and as the rally in crude oil boosted the Canadian dollar to a 3-week high against the dollar.

Mar crude oil (CLH16 +0.03%) this morning is up +13 cents (+0.40%) and Mar gasoline (RBH16 +2.16%) is up +0.0200 (+1.87%). Wednesday’s closes: CLH6 +0.71 (+2.26%), RBH6 -0.0008 (+0.07%). Mar crude oil and gasoline on Wednesday closed higher as Mar gasoline recovered from a contract low. Crude oil prices were boosted by the weaker dollar and by the -771,000 bbl decline in crude oil supplies at Cushing, OK, the delivery point for WTI futures, the first decline in twelve weeks. Crude oil prices were undercut by the +8.38 million bbl surge in weekly EIA crude supplies and the +3.46 million bbl increase in weekly EIA gasoline stockpiles to 248.46 million bbl, more than expectations of +1.0 million bbl and a 15-3/4 year high.