US : Pre Market News – 07 Dec 2016

Wed Dec 07 2016
Nikki Bailey (1332 articles)

PREMARKET WORLD NEWS

Dec E-mini S&Ps (ESZ16 +0.01%) are up +0.02% and European stocks are up +1.01% at a 7-1/4 month high on optimism the ECB will prolong QE. Expectations are for the ECB at its monthly meeting tomorrow to extend its monthly asset purchases of 80 billion euros by 6 to 9 months. Also, energy producing stocks are higher with Jan WTI crude oil (CLF17 -0.55%) up +0.20% after the API reported late yesterday that U.S. oil inventories fell -2.21 million bbl last week. Market anxiety has also fallen since last month’s surprise election of Donald Trump as U.S. President as the VIX volatility index dropped to a 3-1/2 month low today. Asian stocks settled mostly higher: Japan +0.74%, Hong Kong +0.55%, China +0.71%, Taiwan +0.14%, Australia +0.91%, Singapore +0.36%, South Korea +0.28%, India -0.59%. India’s S&P Sensex Stock Index erased an early rally and closed down -0.59 % after the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly kept the benchmark repurchase rate unch at 6.25% when expectations were for a -25 bp cut to 6.00%.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.03%) is unch. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.06%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.04%.

Mar 10-year T-note prices (ZNH17 +0.16%) are up +5.5 ticks.

German Oct industrial production rose +0.3% m/m and +1.2% y/y, weaker than expectations of +0.8% m/m and +1.6% y/y.

UK Oct industrial production unexpectedly fell -1.3% m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.2% m/m and the biggest decline in 4 years.

U.S. STOCK PREVIEW

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) weekly MBA mortgage applications (previous -9.4% with purchase sub-index -0.2% and refi sub-index -16.2%), (2) Oct JOLTS job openings (expected +14,000 to 5.500 million, Sep +33,000 to 5.486 million), (3) Oct consumer credit (expected +$ 18.3 billion, Sep +$ 19.292 billion), (4) EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

Russell 1000 earnings reports today include: Costco (consensus $ 1.19), John Wiley (0.66), Brown-Forman (0.50), Casey’s General Stores (1.57), H&R Block (-0.68), lululemon athletica (0.43), Orbital ATK (1.39).

U.S. IPO’s scheduled to price today: Collplant Holdings (CQPTD).

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Mon-Wed, Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference on Tue-Wed, Wells Fargo Pipeline, MLP and Utility Symposium on Wed, Citi Global Health Care Conference on Wed-Thu, Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Wed-Thu, Bernstein Consumer Summit on Wed-Thu, Capital One Southcoast Energy Conference on Wed-Thu, ACI European Biopolymer Summit on Thu.

PREMARKET U.S. STOCKS

Discover Financial Services (DFS +1.38%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Wedbush with a 12-month target price of $ 78.

Best Buy (BBY +0.23%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Loop Capital with a price target of $ 58.

ABIOMED (ABMD +2.72%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Guggenheim Securities with a 12-month target price of $ 150.

MasterCard (MA -1.50%) gained almost 1% in after-hours trading after it boosted its quarterly dividend to 22 cents a share from 19 cents, and then approved a $ 4 billion stock buyback program, effective upon completion of a previous program that has $ 1.3 billion remaining.

Western Digital (WDC +2.83%) rallied over 5% in after-hours trading after it renewed a royalty-bearing cross licensing agreement with Samsung through 2024, and then raised guidance on Q2 adjusted EPS to $ 2.10-$ 2.15 from an October 26 view of $ 1.85-$ 1.95.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (PLAY -1.70%) jumped 12% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 25 cents, well above consensus of 14 cents, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2017 comparable store sales to up +3.1%-3.6% from a prior view of +2.25%-3.25%.

Bluebird Bio (BLUE +9.42%) fell over 2% in after-hours trading after it proposed a $ 200 million stock offering.

HealthEquity (HQY -2.76%) dropped over 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 10 cents, below consensus of 12 cents.

AeroVironment (AVAV +2.66%) tumbled nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q2 loss per share of -18 cents, a much bigger loss than expectations of -1 cent, and then said it sees a Q3 loss per share of -34 cents to -38 cents, more than consensus of -24 cents.

Ensco PLC (ESV +4.55%) declined over 6% in after-hours trading after it started a private placement of $ 650 million senior notes due 2014.

Sigma Designs (SIGM +1.31%) sank over 10% in after-hours trading after it said it expects Q4 revenue of $ 42 million-$ 45 million, weaker than consensus of $ 57.4 million.

TerraForm Power (TERP +1.83%) slid nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it said it sees completing the rest of its 2016 filings and regaining full compliance by March.

MARKET COMMENTS

Dec E-mini S&Ps (ESZ16 +0.01%) this morning are up +0.50 of a point (+0.02%). Tuesday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.34%, Dow Jones +0.18%, Nasdaq +0.22%. The S&P 500 on Tuesday closed higher on carry-over support from a rally in European stocks to a 3-week high on expectations that the ECB this Thursday will extend QE past March of next year. Stocks were also boosted by the +2.7% increase in U.S. Oct factory orders, stronger than expectations of +2.6% and the biggest increase in 16 months. Stocks were undercut by the U.S. Oct trade deficit of -$ 42.6 billion, which was wider than expectations of -$ 42.0 billion and was negative for Q4 GDP. There was also weakness in energy producer stocks as crude oil prices fell -1.70%.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH17 +0.16%) this morning are up +5.5 ticks. Tuesday’s closes: TYH7 unch, FVH7 +1.00. Mar 10-year T-notes on Tuesday closed little changed. T-notes were boosted by the the wider-than-expected U.S. Oct trade deficit, which was negative for Q4 GDP. T-notes were also boosted by the slide in crude oil prices, which undercut inflation expectations. T-note prices were undercut by the +2.7% increase in U.S. Oct factory orders, their biggest increase in 16 months.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.03%) this morning is unch. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is +0.0006 (+0.06%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is -0.05 (-0.04%). Tuesday’s closes: Dollar index +0.400 (+0.40%), EUR/USD -0.0046 (-0.43%), USD/JPY +0.17 (+0.15%). The dollar index on Tuesday closed higher on the stronger than expected U.S. Oct factory orders report and by weakness in EUR/USD on expectations that the ECB on Thursday will announce an extension of QE beyond March of 2017.

Jan WTI crude oil prices (CLF17 -0.55%) this morning are up +10 cent s(+0.20%) and Jan gasoline (RBF17 -0.18%) is +0.0064 (+0.42%). Tuesday’s closes: Jan crude -0.88 (-1.70%), Jan gasoline -0.0158 (-1.01%). Jan crude oil and gasoline on Tuesday closed lower on a stronger dollar and on news that OPEC Nov crude production rose by +200,000 bpd to a record 34.160 million bpd.

GLOBAL EVENT CALENDAR 12/07/2016
Wednesday, Dec 7
US0700 ETWeekly MBA mortgage applications, previous -9.4% with purchase sub-index -0.2% and refi sub-index -16.2%.
1000 ETOct JOLTS job openings expected +14,000 to 5.500 million, Sep +33,000 to 5.486 million.
1030 ETEIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
1500 ETOct consumer credit expected +$ 18.3 billion, Sep +$ 19.292 billion.
Thursday, Dec 8
US0830 ETWeekly initial unemployment claims expected -13,000 to 255,000, previous +17,000 to 268,000. Weekly continuing claims expected -33,000 to 2.048 million, previous +38,000 to 2.081 million.
0830 ETUSDA weekly Export Sales.
1100 ETTreasury announces amount of 3-year T-notes (previous $ 24 billion), 10-year T-notes (previous $ 23 billion) and 30-year T-bonds (previous $ 15 billion) to be auctioned Dec 12-13.
U.S. STOCK CALENDAR 12/07/2016
CompanyTickerTimeEvent DescriptionPeriodEstimate
Brown-Forman CorpBF/B US8:00Q2 2017 Earnings ReleaseQ2 20170.498
Starbucks CorpSBUX US8:00Investor DayY 2016
Principal Financial Group IncPFG US8:00RoadshowY 2016
Xerox CorpXRX US9:00Investor ConferenceY 2016
Brown-Forman CorpBF/B US10:00Q2 2017 Earnings CallQ2 2017
Lowe’s Cos IncLOW US10:00Analyst & Investor ConferenceY 2016
H&R Block IncHRB US16:30Q2 2017 Earnings CallQ2 2017
Costco Wholesale CorpCOST US17:00Q1 2017 Earnings CallQ1 2017
H&R Block IncHRB USAft-mktQ2 2017 Earnings ReleaseQ2 2017-0.675
Costco Wholesale CorpCOST USAft-mktQ1 2017 Earnings ReleaseQ1 20171.187
Baker Hughes IncBHI USNovember 2016 Sales and Revenue Release – Rig Counts2016
Equifax IncEFX USInvestor MeetingY 2016
Nikki Bailey

Nikki Bailey

Nikki Bailey reports on US Stocks. She covers also economy and related aspects. She has been tracking US Stock markets for several years now. She is based in New York