Live Index – Thu, 25 Feb 2016 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.14%) are little changed, up +0.13%. Crude oil prices are down -0.47%, which has drug energy producers and service companies lower with Transocean Ltd. and Kinder Morgan both down at last 1.2% in pre-market trading. Also, a -6.41% plunge in China’s Shanghai Composite to a 1-week low undercut stocks after a surge in money-market rates indicated tighter liquidity as China’s overnight repurchase rate climbed 14 bp to 2.11%, the largest increase in almost 3 weeks. European stocks are up +1.81% after the Eurozone Jan CPI was revised lower, which bolsters the case for the ECB to expand stimulus when it meets next month. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan +1.41%, Hong Kong -1.58%, China -6.41%, Taiwan +1.00%, Australia +0.13%, Singapore -0.63%, South Korea +0.20%, India -0.49%. U.S Treasury Secretary Lew said that G-20 finance ministers won’t deliver an “emergency response” to the recent market turmoil when they meet in Shanghai for a 2-day meeting Friday and Saturday as we aren’t in a crisis environment.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.15%) is down -0.05%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.15%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.20%.

Mar T-note prices (ZNH16 +0.07%) are up +3 ticks.

St. Louis Fed President Bullard said there’s “too much talk about negative interest rates” and that he doesn’t see recession risk rising in the U.S. He added, that the U.S Jan CPI report was “hot” and that he expects inflation expectations to stabilize.

The Eurozone Jan CPI was revised downward to +0.3% y/y from the originally reported +0.4% y/y. The Jan core CPI was left unchanged at +1.0% y/y.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart’s opening remarks at the Atlanta Fed’s 2016 Banking Outlook Conference, (2) weekly initial unemployment claims (expected +8,000 to 270,000, previous -7,000 to 262,000) and continuing claims (expected -20,000 to 2.253 million, previous +30,000 to 2.273 million), (3) Jan durable goods orders (expected +2.7% and +0.3% ex transportation, Dec -5.0% and -1.0% ex transportation), (4) Dec FHFA house price index (expected +0.5% m/m, Nov +0.5% m/m), (5) Feb Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (expected +3 to -6, Jan unch at -9), (6) San Francisco Fed President John Williams’ speech at NYU Stern Business School, and (7) the Treasury’s auction of $ 28 billion of 7-year T-notes.

There are 19 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today with notable reports including: Best Buy (consensus $ 1.39), Kohl’s (1.55), Gap (0.57), Kraft (0.58), Monster Beverage (0.82), Patterson Cos (0.67), Apache (-0.49), Autodesk (0.12), Intuit (0.19).

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

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: IHS Energy CERAWeek Conference on Tue-Thu, Cantor Fitzgerald Internet & Technology Conference on Thu, Gabelli & Company Pump, Valve and Water Systems Symposium on Thu.

Salesforce.com (CRM -0.60%) jumped over 9% in pre-market trading after it said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of 23 cents-24 cents, above consensus of 21 cents, and raised guidance on fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS to 99 cents-$ 1.01, higher than consensus of 99 cents.

Best Buy (BBY +1.78%) dropped over 3% in pre-market trading after it said it sees Q1 ajusted EPS of 31 cents-35 cents, below consensus of 39 cents.

Charter Communications (CHTR +0.80%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at JPMorgan Chase with a 12-month price target of $ 210.

Kohl’s (KSS +1.16%) reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.58, higher than consensus of $ 1.55.

Bankrate (RATE +2.51%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Topeka Capital Markets.

Imax Corporation (IMAX +2.39%) fell over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 39 cents, below consensus of 42 cents.

La Quinta Holdings (LQ +1.88%) lost over 3% in after-hours trading after it said it sees 2016 pro forma adjusted Ebitda of $ 367 million-$ 384 million versus $ 394 million y/y.

Relypsa (RLYP -2.39%) slumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q4 adjusted EPS loss of -$ 1.40, a wider loss than consensus of -$ 1.35.

AmSurg (AMSG -0.01%) climbed nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $ 1.07, higher than consensus of $ 1.04.

Restoration Hardware (RH +1.29%) plunged over 20% in pre-market trading after it reported preliminary Q4 adjusted EPS of 99 cents, well below consensus of $ 1.40.

Andarko Petroleum (APC +2.58%) rose nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it sold its Springfield Pipeline LLC to Western Gas Partners for $ 750 million.

Malibu Boats (MBUU +2.41%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at B. Riley with a 12-month price target of $ 22.

Diamond Resorts International (DRII -1.60%) jumped 17% in after-hours trading after it said it hired Centerview Partners to explore a wide range of strategic options to maximize shareholder value.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH16 +0.14%) this morning are up +2.50 points (+0.13%). Wednesday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.44%, Dow Jones +0.32%, Nasdaq +0.92%. The S&P 500 on Wednesday recovered from a 1-week low and closed higher on a rebound in crude oil that boosted energy producer stocks and on Richmond Fed President Lacker’s comment that there is “no evidence” that a U.S. recession is imminent. Stocks were undercut by the -9.2% decline in U.S. Jan new home sales to 494,000 (weaker than expectations of -4.4% to 520,000) and the unexpected -3.4 point decline in the U.S. Feb Markit services PMI to a 2-1/3 year low of 49.8 (weaker than expectations of +0.3 to 53.5).

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH16 +0.07%) this morning are up +3 ticks. Wednesday’s closes: TYH6 +2.00, FVH6 +1.25. Mar T-notes on Wednesday climbed to a 1-week high and closed higher on U.S. economic concerns after the weak Jan new home sales and Feb Markit services PMI reports.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.15%) this morning is down -0.044 (-0.05%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0016 (+0.15%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.22 (+0.20%). Wednesday’s closes: Dollar Index -0.023 (-0.02%), EUR/USD -0.0007 (-0.06%), USD/JPY +0.08 (+0.07%). The dollar index on Wednesday fell back from a 3-week high and closed lower on the weaker-than-expected U.S. Jan new home sales and Feb Markit services PMI reports. The dollar was also undercut by strength in the energy-exporting currencies of Canada and Russia after crude oil erased early declines and closed higher. The dollar index found underlying support from Richmond Fed President Lacker’s comment that there is “no evidence” that a U.S. recession is imminent, which “bolsters the case for raising the federal funds rate target.”

Apr WTI crude (CLJ16 -0.25%) this morning is down -15 cents (-0.47%) and Apr gasoline (RBJ16 -0.39%) is down -0.0104 (-0.82%). Wednesday’s closes: CLJ6 +0.28 (+0.88%), RBJ6 +0.0561 (+4.60%). Apr crude oil and gasoline on Wednesday closed higher on the -0.4% decline in U.S. crude oil production in the week of Feb 19 to a 4-month low of 9.102 million bpd and the -2.2 million bbl drop in EIA gasoline stockpiles (vs expectations of -1.0 million bbls). Crude oil prices were undercut by the +3.5 million bbl increase in EIA crude inventories to a record high of 507.6 million bbl and by the +333,000 bbl increase in crude supplies at Cushing, OK, delivery point of WTI futures, to a record high 65.066 million bbl.