US : Pre Market News – 21 Mar 2017

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.20%) this morning are up +0.18% and European stocks are up +0.37%. Equities rallied and EUR/USD jumped to a 1-1/2 month high as European political risks eased after pro-EU French presidential candidate Macron emerged as the likely winner of the five contenders in a presidential debate Monday night. A slide in the dollar index to a 1-1/2 month low has also boosted crude oil prices, which gave a lift to energy producing stocks with May WTI crude oil (CLK17 +0.86%) up +0.76%. Gains in stocks were muted as mining companies declined after precious metals prices fell. May COMEX copper (HGK17 -0.92%) is down -0.92% at a 1-week low on optimism that the strike by workers in Chile that has closed BHP Billiton’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s biggest, will soon end as talks resumed between management and workers. GBP/USD rose +0.90% to a 3-week high on signs of rising price pressures in England after UK Feb CPI rose at the fastest pace in over 3 years. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan -0.34%, Hong Kong +0.37%, China +0.33%, Taiwan +0.60%, Australia -0.07%, Singapore -0.23%, South Korea +1.10%, India -0.11%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index fell to a 1-week low as exporter stocks sold-off on concern over earnings prospects after USD/JPY tumbled to a 3-week low.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.58%) is down -0.54% at a 1-1/2 month low. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.60% at a 1-1/2 month high. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.05% at a 3-week low.

Jun 10-year T-note prices (ZNM17 -0.08%) are down -5.5 ticks.

UK Feb CPI rose +0.7% m/m and +2.3% y/y, stronger than expectations of +0.5% m/m and +2.1% y/y with the +2.3% y/y gain the largest year-on-year increase in 3-1/3 years.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) New York Fed President William Dudley (voter) takes part in a panel discussion with BOE governor Mark Carney at a BOE event on ethics and culture in banking, (2) Q4 current account balance (expected -$ 128.1 billion, Q3 -$ 113.0 billion), (3) Kansas City Fed President Esther George (non-voter) discusses the U.S. economic outlook at a Women in Housing and Finance luncheon, (4) Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks at the University of Richmond Robins School of Business.

Notable Russell 2000 earnings reports today include: Lennar (consensus $ 0.55), General Mills (0.71), Nike (0.53), FedEx (2.62).

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

Equity conferences: Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference on Tue, Consumer Analyst Group of Europe (CAGE) Conference on Mon-Wed, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Telecom, Media & Technology Conference on Tue, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials Conference on Tue-Wed, Oppenheimer Global Health Care Conference on Tue-Wed, Evercore ISI Retail Summit on Wed, Gabelli & Company Specialty Chemicals Conference on Wed, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials & EU Autos Conference on Thu.

Facebook (FB +0.07%) rose nearly 1% in pre-market trading after it was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at BTIG with a price target of $ 175.

Progressive Corp (PGR -0.22%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Sandler O’Neill with a 12-month target price of $ 45.

JM Smucker (SJM -0.04%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a target price of $ 130.

Kellogg (K -0.17%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a target price of $ 69.

General Mills (GIS -0.66%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a 12-month target price of $ 52.

Dave & Busters (PLAY -0.45%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Maxim Group LLC with a price target of $ 72.

Campbell Soup (CPB -0.34%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $ 54.

Veritex Holdings (VBTX -0.64%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with a price target of $ 34.

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL +0.21%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at William Blair with a price target of $ 59.

Triumph Bancorp (TBK -3.54%) was rated a new ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with an 18-month target price of $ 31.

Conagra Brands (CAG -1.45%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ at Bernstein with a price target of $ 36.

La Jolla Pharmaceuticals (LJPC +7.13%) dropped over 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed underwritten public offering of $ 100 million of its common stock.

Genesis Energy LP (GEL +1.17%) lost nearly 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of 4 million units.

Merit Medical Systems (MMSI +0.64%) fell 3% in after-hours trading after it announced a public offering of $ 125 million of common stock.

Calithera Biosciences (CALA -0.40%) slumped nearly 7% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed underwritten public offering of 4.5 million shares of its common stock.

Golub Capital BDC (GBDC +0.10%) lost over 2% in after-hours trading after it announced a 1.75 million share public offering of its common stock.

Ocular Therapeutix (OCUL +3.89%) dropped over 4% in after-hours trading after CFO Brad Smith announced his resignation effective March 31 to pursue other opportunities.

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.20%) this morning are up +4.25 points (+0.18%). Monday’s closes: S&P 500 -0.20%, Dow Jones -0.04%, Nasdaq +0.08%. The S&P 500 on Monday closed lower on interest rate concerns after dovish Chicago Fed President Evans said he can support “two or three rate increases in 2017” and on weakness in energy producer stocks after crude oil fell -0.81%. On the positive side, the Feb Chicago Fed national activity index rose +0.36 to 0.34, stronger than expectations of +0.08 to 0.03.

Jun 10-year T-notes (ZNM17 -0.08%) this morning are down -5.5 ticks. Monday’s closes: TYM7 +8.00, FVM7 +5.00. Jun 10-year T-notes on Monday climbed to a 2-1/2 week high and settled higher on Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari’s comment that the data is basically moving sideways so there’s no rush to raise interest rates. There was also some increased safe-haven demand with the weakness in stocks.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.58%) this morning is down -0.543 (-0.54%) at a 1-1/2 month low. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0064 (+0.60%) at a 1-1/2 month high and USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.06 (-0.05%) at a 3-week low. Monday’s closes: Dollar index +0.11 (+0.11%), EUR/USD -0.0028 (-0.26%), USD/JPY -0.61 (-0.54%). The dollar index on Monday recovered from a 1-1/2 month low and closed higher on comments from Chicago Fed President Evans who said he can support “two or three rate increases in 2017.” Gains in the dollar were limited as USD/JPY fell to a 2-1/2 week low after weak stocks boosted the safe-haven demand for the yen.

May WTI crude oil prices (CLK17 +0.86%) this morning are up +37 cents (+0.76%) and May gasoline (RBK17 +1.11%) is +0.0159 (+0.98%). Monday’s closes: May crude -0.40 (-0.81%), May gasoline +0.0100 (+0.62%). May crude oil and gasoline on Monday settled mixed with May gasoline at a 1-week high. Crude oil prices were undercut by concern that increased U.S. crude production may offset any drop in output from OPEC after Friday’s data from Baker Hughes showed U.S. active oil rigs in the week ended Mar 17 rose 14 to 631, the most in 17-3/4 months. Crude oil was also undercut by expectations that Wednesday’s EIA crude inventories will climb +3.0 million bbl. Gasoline closed higher after the crack spread rose to a 3-week high, which may boost refinery demand for crude to refine into gasoline.