US : Pre Market News – 06 Feb 2017

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH17 -0.04%) are up +0.01% on positive carry-over from Friday’s employment data that showed U.S. employers added the most jobs in four months. European stocks are down -0.19%, led by losses in automakers, after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch downgraded the sector to underweight. Another negative for European equities is political risks from France where French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen unveiled her plans to take France out of the EU should she be elected in April. Losses in European stocks were limited after German Dec factory orders posted their largest year-on-year increase in over 5 years. Asian stocks settled mostly higher: Japan +0.31%, Hong Kong +0.95%, China +0.54%, Taiwan +0.87%, Australia -0.11%, Singapore +0.49%, South Korea +0.24%, India +0.70%.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.14%) is up +0.14%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.42%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.12%.

Mar 10-year T-note prices (ZNH17 +0.31%) are up +12 ticks as they garner support form a rally in 10-year German bunds which rallied to a 1-1/2 week high.

Eurozone Feb Sentix investor confidence fell -0.8 to 17.4, stronger than expectations of -1.4 to 16.8.

German Dec factory orders rose +8.1% y/y, stronger than expectations of +4.2% y/y and the largest year-on-year increase in 5-1/3 years.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) USDA weekly grain export inspections, (2) Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker (voter) speaks at a payment conference in San Diego.

Notable S&P 500 earnings reports today include: Tyson Foods (consensus $ 1.27), Lowes (0.63), Newell Brands (0.80), Sysco (0.54), Hasbro (1.28), Twenty-First Century Fox (0.49), FMC (0.88), Tesoro (-0.14), Macerich 1.16).

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

Equity conferences: Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum on Tue-Wed, Cowen Aerospace/Defense & Industrials Conference on Wed-Thu.

American Airlines Group (AAL +0.43%) was upgraded to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Underperform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $ 43.

Delta Air Lines (DAL +0.91%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $ 61.

FedEx (FDX +1.95%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Raymond James.

AutoNation (AN -3.86%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Evercore ISI.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA -0.15%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities with a 12-month target price of $ 95.

CVS Health Corp. (CVS +0.88%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Atlantic Equities with a 12-month target price of $ 84.

Barracuda Networks (CUDA +2.54%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at Needham with a price target of $ 28.

Nvidia (NVDA -0.88%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Roth Capital

Parexel International (PRXL -1.44%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse with a target price of $ 65.

CBS (CBS +0.02%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities with a price target of $ 78.

U.S. Steel (X -3.07%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Argus with a price target of $ 39.

Lone Star boosted its stake in Edgewater Technology (EDGW -2.90%) to 6.2% from 1.4%.

Credit Acceptance Corp. (CACC +2.01%) slipped 2% in after-hours trading after the company received FTC civil investigative demand seeking information on car dealers using GPS Starter Interrupters on consumer vehicles.

Atwood Oceanics (ATW +4.37%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $ 157.6 million, below consensus of $ 159.4 million.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH17 -0.04%) this morning are little changed, up +0.25 of a point (+0.01%). Friday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.73%, Dow Jones +0.94%, Nasdaq +0.27%. The S&P 500 on Friday closed higher on the +227,000 increase in U.S. Jan non-farm payrolls (stronger than expectations of +180,000), and the +1.3% increase in U.S. Dec factory orders (stronger than expectations of +0.5%). A negative factor was the +2.5% y/y increase in U.S. Jan average hourly earnings, weaker than expectations of +2.7% y/y.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH17 +0.31%) this morning are up +12 ticks. Friday’s closes: TYH7 -3.00, FVH7 -1.75. Mar 10-year T-notes on Friday fell back from a 1-1/2 week high and closed lower on the larger-than-expected increase in U.S. Jan non-farm payrolls and stronger-than-expected U.S. Dec factory orders reports that bolstered the case for additional Fed rate hikes. T-notes were boosted by increased safe-haven demand with the fairly sharp rally in stocks. T-notes found some underlying support from the Jan hourly earnings report of +2.5% y/y, weaker than expectations of +2.7% y/y.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.14%) this morning is up +0.142 (+0.14%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0045 (-0.42%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.13 (-0.12%). Friday’s closes: Dollar index +0.078 (+0.08%), EUR/USD +0.0024 (+0.22%), USD/JPY -0.19 (-0.17%). The dollar index on Friday closed higher on the stronger-than-expected U.S. payroll and factory orders reports and the increase in U.S. T-note yields, which improved the dollar’s interest rate differentials.

Mar WTI crude oil prices (CLH17 +0.22%) this morning are up +17 cents (+0.32%) and Mar gasoline (RBH17 +0.83%) is +0.0074 (+0.48%). Friday’s closes: Mar crude +0.29 (+0.54%), Mar gasoline +0.0208 (+1.36%). Mar crude oil and gasoline on Friday closed higher on reduced output by OPEC as OPEC Jan crude production fell -840,000 bpd to 32.2 million bpd, a 14-month low. Crude oil prices were also boosted by increased geopolitical tensions after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran for conducting ballistic missile tests. Crude oil prices were undercut by the Baker Hughes report that U.S. active oil rigs in the week ended Feb 3 rose by 17 rigs to a 1-1/4 year high of 583 rigs.