US : Pre Market News – 24 Mar 2017

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.16%) this morning are up +0.09% ahead of today’s delayed vote of the U.S. Republican health-care plan. House Republican leaders are unsure if they have enough votes to pass the bill, which if it does not pass, threatens the Trump administration’s plans on tax reform and infrastructure spending. President Trump made a last-minute appeal to lawmakers to vote on the measure today, win or lose. May WTI crude oil (CLK17 +0.48%) is up +0.48% and is giving energy producing stocks a lift ahead of a meeting between OPEC and its allies in Kuwait to discuss the impact of their oil production cuts and possibly extend the cuts into the second half of this year. European stocks are down -0.53%, despite stronger-than-expected Eurozone manufacturing data, after the Eurozone Mar Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly rose +0.8 to 56.2, the fastest pace of expansion since the data series began in 2014. The Bank of Russia today unexpectedly cut its key benchmark rate by 25 bp to a 2-year low of 9.75%. Asian stocks settled mostly higher: Japan +0.93%, Hong Kong +0.013%, China +0.64%, Taiwan -0.28%, Australia +0.80%, Singapore +0.51%, South Korea -0.18%, India +0.30%. China’s Shanghai Composite climbed to a 3-1/2 month high and was buoyed by gains in banking and consumer stocks.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.06%) is down -0.08%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.18%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.14%.

Jun 10-year T-note prices (ZNM17 -0.05%) are down -2 ticks.

The Central Bank of Russia unexpectedly cut its 1-week auction rate by 25 bp to a 2-year low of 9.75% when expectations were for no change at 10.00% and said, “there’s the possibility of cutting the key rate gradually in Q2-Q3.”

The Eurozone Mar Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly rose +0.8 to 56.2, stronger than expectations of -0.1 to 55.3 and the fastest pace of expansion since the data series began in 2014.

The Eurozone Mar Markit composite PMI unexpectedly rose +0.7 to 56.7, stronger than expectations of -0.2 to 55.8 and the fastest pace of expansion since the data series began in 2014.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Chicago Fed President Charles Evans (voter) speaks at a Fed community development research conference in Washington D.C., Feb durable goods orders (expected +1.4% and +0.6% ex transportation, Jan +2.0% and unch ex transportation), (3) Mar Markit manufacturing PMI (expected +0.5 to 54.7, Feb -0.8 to 54.2), (4) New York Fed President William Dudley speaks with business students at York College, (5) USDA Feb Cattle on Feed.

Notable Russell 1000 earnings reports today include: none.

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

Equity conferences: none.

Adobe Systems (ADBE +0.52%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse with a price target of $ 150.

FirstEnergy (FE -0.67%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.

Micron Technology (MU +1.57%) jumped over 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 90 cents, better than consensus of 86 cents, and then said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS of $ 1.43 to $ 1.57, well above consensus of 95 cents.

Entergy (ETR +0.14%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Goldman Sachs.

Macy’s (M -0.35%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at Citigroup.

Oxford Industries (OXM +1.85%) slumped nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 adjusted EPS continuing operations of 63 cents, well below consensus of 93 cents, and said it sees Q1 adjusted EPS of $ 1.00 to $ 1.10, below consensus of $ 1.35.

KB Home (KBH +1.10%) gained over 1% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 revenue of $ 818.6 million, better than consensus of $ 806.6 million.

GameStop (GME -0.54%) tumbled 11% in after-hours trading after it said it sees full-year EPS of $ 3.10 to $ 3.40, weaker than consensus of $ 3.70.

Mylan NV (MYL -0.24%) slid nearly 4% in after-hours trading after a person familiar with the process said that 44 million shares of Mylan stock were being offered via Morgan Stanley.

Tronc (TRNC -1.72%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after holder Oaktree Tribune said it liquidated its 10.3% stake in the company.

Quotient Ltd (QTNT -1.96%) climbed 5% in after-hours trading after it said the FDA licensed 8 of its blood typing reagent products for sale in the U.S., and said it expects the FDA to license 5 more of its blood typing products later this year.

Ignyta (RXDX +5.33%) rose 3% in after-hours trading after it said it was exploring strategic options for its cancer treatment taladegib and amended a pact with Ely Lilly for its taladegib oncology program.

Sportsmans’ Warehouse Holdings (SPWH +7.94%) sold-off 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 net sales of $ 221.4 million, weaker than consensus of $ 227.6 million, and said it sees Q1 sales of $ 150 million to $ 155 million, below consensus of $ 163.8 million.

Inventure Foods (SNAK +1.25%) surged 10% in after-hours trading after it sold its Fresh Frozen Foods to Pictsweet for $ 23.7 million.

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.16%) this morning are up +2.00 points (+0.09%). Thursday’s closes: S&P 500 -0.11%, Dow Jones -0.02%, Nasdaq -0.23%. The S&P 500 on Thursday closed lower on the action by House Republican leaders to delay the vote on their health-care plan because it lacked the votes to pass and on the unexpected +15,000 increase in U.S. weekly initial unemployment claims to a 7-week high of 258,000. Stocks found support on the +6.1% increase in U.S. Feb new home sales to 592,000, stronger than expectations of +1.6% to a 7-month high of 564,000.

Jun 10-year T-notes (ZNM17 -0.05%) this morning are down -2 ticks. Thursday’s closes: TYM7 -4.00, FVM7 -1.00. Jun 10-year T-notes on Thursday closed lower on the stronger-than-expected U.S. Feb new home sales report (+6.1% to a 7-month high of 592,000) and on comments from San Francisco Fed President Williams who said that three or “maybe even more” interest rate increases this year make sense.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.06%) this morning is down -0.078 (-0.08%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0019 (+0.18%) and USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.16 (+0.14%). Thursday’s closes: Dollar index +0.083 (+0.08%), EUR/USD -0.0014 (-0.13%), USD/JPY -0.22 (-0.20%). The dollar index on Thursday closed higher on the stronger-than-expected U.S. Feb new home sales that rose +6.1% to a 7-month high 592,000, which bolsters the case for additional Fed rate hikes. The dollar also received a boost from hawkish comments from San Francisco Fed President Williams who said that three or “maybe even more” interest rate increases this year make sense.

May WTI crude oil prices (CLK17 +0.48%) this morning are up +23 cents (+0.48%) and May gasoline (RBK17 +0.36%) is +0.0046 (+0.29%). Thursday’s closes: May crude -0.34 (-0.71%), May gasoline -0.0112 (-0.69%). May crude oil and gasoline on Thursday closed lower with May gasoline at a 1-week low. Metals prices were undercut by a stronger dollar and by concern that the crude oil glut will persist after Wednesday’s EIA data showed a +4.95 million bbl increase in EIA crude inventories to a record 533.1 million bbl and that U.S. crude production rose +0.2% to a 13-month high of 9.129 million bpd.