US : Pre Market News – 10 Jan 2017

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH17 +0.02%) are little changed, up +0.02%, and European stocks are down -0.04% at a 1-week low. Strength in energy producers is lifting U.S. stock indexes with Feb WTI crude oil (CLG17 +0.25%) up +0.29% amid further announcements from OPEC members that they are adhering to agree upon production cuts. Rising producer prices in China have spurred inflation concerns in China after China Dec PPI rose +5.5% y/y, the largest increase in 5-1/4 years. The slump in the Chinese yuan to an 8-1/2 year low against the dollar last month has boosted imported commodity prices and increased Chinese factory-gate prices. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan -0.79%, Hong Kong +0.83%, China -0.30%, Taiwan +0.08%, Australia -0.80%, Singapore +0.82%, South Korea unchanged, India +0.65%.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.04%) is up +0.01%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is unchanged. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.07%. GBP/USD is down -0.20% at a 2-1/2 month low on concern a hard Brexit will spur the BOE to keep interest rates lower for longer.

Mar 10-year T-note prices (ZNH17 +0.01%) are down -0.5 of a tick.

China Dec CPI rose +2.1% y/y, weaker than expectations of +2.2% y/y. Dec PPI rose +5.5% y/y stronger than expectations of +4.6% y/y and the biggest increase in 5-1/4 years.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) revised Nov wholesale inventories (prelim-Nov +0.9% m/m), (2) Nov JOLTS job openings (expected -34,000 to 5.5 million, Oct -97,000 to 5.534 million), (3) Treasury auctions $ 24 billion of 3-year T-notes.

Russell 1000 earnings reports today include: Lamb Weston Holdings (consensus 0.55).

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

Equity conferences this week include: J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Mon-Thu, Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference on Tue-Wed, Needham & Company Growth Conference on Tue-Wed, ICR Conference on Tue-Wed, Evercore ISI Utility Conference on Thu.

American Express (AXP +0.52%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Oppenheimer with an 18-month target price of $ 98.

Allstate (ALL -1.43%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.

Travelers Cos (TRV -0.80%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.

Williams Cos (WMB -1.51%) slumped 7% in after-hours trading after it announced a plan to increase its ownership in Williams Partners to 72% from 58% and that it will launch a 65 million share public offering in order to pay for the share purchase.

Kite Pharma (KITE +1.46%) gained 1% in after-hours trading after it entered into a joint venture licensing deal with Daiichi Sankyo to develop an experimental treatment for an aggressive type of blood cancer and will receive $ 50 million upfront plus an additional $ 200 million if developmental and regulatory milestones are met.

Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT -6.54%) dropped 5% in after-hours trading after it reported preliminary Q3 EPS of 39 cents, weaker than consensus of 43 cents.

Barracuda Networks (CUDA +4.35%) jumped 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of 22 cents, well above consensus of 14 cents, and said Q3 billings for core products were up +30% y/y to $ 61.6 million.

Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR -1.16%) fell 4% in after-hours trading after it began an offering of $ 500 million of exchangeable senior unsecured notes due 2024.

Zeltiq Aesthetics (ZLTQ -1.07%) lost nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it said CCO and President Keith Sullivan will retire effective Jan 16.

WD-40 (WDFC -1.64%) fell 6% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 net sales of $ 89.2 million, weaker than consensus of $ 96.3 million.

Cray Inc. (CRAY -0.74%) lost 4% in after-hours trading after it reported 2016 revenue of $ 630 million, below consensus if $ 633.2 million, and said for 2017 it “currently believes it will be difficult to grow over 2016.”

VOXX International (VOXX +6.00%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 24 cents and said Q3 net sales rose 3.3%.

Atwood Oceanics (ATW -2.04%) dropped nearly 6% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 13.5 million common shares.

Shoe Carnival (SCVL +0.55%) fell 2% in after-hours trading after it cut its fiscal-year net sales estimate to $ 1 billion-$ 1.003 billion, below a November 28 forecast of $ 1.002 billion-$ 1.006 billion

City Office REIT (CIO -0.84%) slid 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 4 million shares of common stock.

Papa Murphy’s Holdings (FRSH -2.52%) tumbled 7% in after-hours trading after it reported preliminary Q4 revenue of $ 35.5 million, weaker than consensus of $ 38.3 million.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH17 +0.02%) this morning are up +0.50 of a point (+0.02%). Monday’s closes: S&P 500 -0.35%, Dow Jones -0.38%, Nasdaq +0.36%. The S&P 500 on Monday closed lower on weakness in oil companies on the -4.07% decline in Feb WTI crude oil to a 3-week low and on heightened geopolitical concerns after a U.S. destroyer fired warning shots at four Iranian vessels that had moved too close in the Strait of Hormuz. Stocks received a boost from news that Nov consumer credit rose +$ 24.532 billion, stronger than expectations of +$ 18.4 billion, which shows confidence in the economic outlook as consumers are willing to take on more debt.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH17 +0.01%) this morning are down -0.5 of a tick. Monday’s closes: TYH7 +3.00, FVH7 +12.00. Mar 10-year T-notes on Monday closed higher on increased safe-haven demand with the weakness in stocks and on the -4.07% slide in crude oil prices to a 3-week low, which undercut inflation expectations.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.04%) this morning is up +0.01 (+0.01%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is unchanged. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.08 (-0.07%). Monday’s closes: Dollar index -0.390 (-0.38%), EUR/USD +0.0042 (+0.40%), USD/JPY -0.99 (-0.85%). The dollar index on Monday closed lower on strength in EUR/USD after the Eurozone Jan Sentix investor confidence rose +8.2 to a 17-month high of 18.2 and on the decline in the 10-year T-note yield, which reduced the dollar’s interest rate differentials.

Feb WTI crude oil prices (CLG17 +0.25%) this morning are up +15 cents (+0.29%) and Feb gasoline (RBG17 +0.71%) is +0.0122 (+0.78%). Monday’s closes: Feb crude -2.20 (-4.07%), Feb gasoline -0.0667 (-4.08%). Feb crude oil and gasoline on Monday closed sharply lower with both contracts at 3-week lows. Crude oil prices were undercut by concern that increased U.S. crude oil output will offset the decline in OPEC crude production after Friday’s data from Baker Hughes showed U.S. active oil rigs rose for the tenth consecutive week as they increased by 4 rigs to a 1-year high of 529 rigs.