US : Pre Market News – 06 Apr 2017

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.11%) this morning are up +0.13% as they recovered from a 1-week low in overnight trade. Concern by FOMC members over high stock prices led to a sell-off Wednesday afternoon that extended into overnight trading after the Mar 14-15 FOMC meeting minutes said, “some participants viewed equity prices as quite high relative to standard valuation measures.” Stocks recovered, though, on short-covering ahead of a 2-day meeting that begins today between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida. European stocks are up +0.10% after comments from ECB President Draghi signaled the ECB will continue with its QE program when he said that “a reassessment of the current monetary policy stance is not warranted at this stage.” Asian stocks settled mostly lower: Japan -1.40%, Hong Kong -0.52%, China +0.33%, Taiwan -0.52%, Australia -0.34%, Singapore -0.03%, South Korea -0.45%, India -0.16%. China’s Shanghai Composite bucked the sell-off in global stock markets and rallied to a 4-month high on optimism that talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Trump will improve U.S.-China trade relations. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index followed the late sell-off in U.S. stocks Wednesday and fell to a 3-3/4 month low.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.01%) is up +0.04%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.04%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.14%.

Jun 10-year T-note prices (ZNM17 unch) are little changed, down -0.5 of a tick.

ECB President Draghi said, “we have not yet seen sufficient evidence to materially alter our assessment of the inflation outlook” and that “a reassessment of the current monetary policy stance is not warranted at this stage.”

San Francisco Fed President Williams (non-voter) said two more rate hikes this year is a sensible starting point and that it makes sense for the Fed to start shrinking its balance sheet toward the end of this year. He added that it will take something like 5-years to bring the balance sheet down to a more normal level, just based on the arithmetic of its holdings.

German Feb factory orders rose +3.4% m/m, weaker than expectations of +4.0% m/m.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Mar Challenger job cuts (Feb -40.0% y/y), (2) weekly initial unemployment claims (expected -8,000 to 250,000, previous -3,000 to 258,000), (3) weekly continuing claims (expected -22,000 to 2.030 million, previous +65,000 to 2.052 million), (4) San Francisco Fed President John Williams (non-voter) speaks on a ECB panel in Frankfurt on “Do monetary policy frameworks need to be adjusted in a world of (potentially) low natural interest rates? If so, how?” (5) President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold talks on Thu-Fri at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Notable Russell 1000 earnings reports today include: Constellation Brands (consensus $ 1.36), RPM Intl (0.11), MSC Industrial Direct (0.90), CarMax (0.79), Lamb Weston (0.54).

U.S. IPO’s scheduled to price today:

Equity conferences: Jefferies Animal Health Summit on Thu.

Medtronic PLC (MDT -0.47%) gained almost 2% in after-hours trading after Reuters reported that it was close to selling its medical supplies unit to Cardinal Health for $ 6 billion.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (JAZZ -1.79%) climbed over 4% in after-hours trading after it settled a lawsuit with Hikma that grants Hikma the right to sell an authorized generic version of Xyrem in the U.S. starting January 1, 2023.

Yum China Holdings (YUMC +0.79%) rallied nearly 10% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 comparable sales unexpectedly rose 1%, better than consensus of -2.4%, and reported Q1 revenue of $ 1.28 billion, higher than consensus of $ 1.27 billion.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD -2.06%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Buckingham Research Group with a 12-month target price of $ 48.

Cardinal Health (CAH +0.14%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Inline’ at Evercore ISI with a 12-month target price of $ 91.50.

Teladoc (TDOC +1.41%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Cantor Fitzgerald with a 12-month target price of $ 27.

OZ Minerals (OZMLF -8.26%) was downgraded to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ at Morningstar.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY -3.03%) rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.84, above consensus of $ 1.77.

Resources Connection (RECN -1.53%) dropped 9% in after-hours trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 9 cents, below consensus of 14 cents.

8Point3 Energy Partners LP (CAFD +0.92%) tumbled 14% in after-hours trading after it said it sees Q2 revenue of $ 14 million to $ 16 million, weaker than consensus of $ 16.2 million.

GoPro (GPRO unch) fell over 1% in after-hours trading after it offered $ 150 million of convertible senior notes due 2022 in a private placement.

Colony Northstar (CLNS -0.53%) lost nearly 2% in after-hours trading after a person familiar with the matter said a 21.9 million share block of Northstar shares were being offered at $ 12.65 to $ 12.70 via Morgan Stanley.

Synacor (SYNC +1.22%) slumped 6% in after-hours trading after it announced a proposed public offering of common stock, although no size was given.

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM17 +0.11%) this morning are up +3.00 points (+0.13%). Wednesday’s closes: S&P 500 -0.31%, Dow Jones -0.20%, Nasdaq -0.40%. The S&P 500 on Wednesday rallied to a 2-week high but shed its gains and closed lower. Negative factors include the -2.4 point decline in the U.S. Mar ISM non-manufacturing index to a 5-month low of 55.2, House Speaker Ryan’s comment that tax reform could take longer than a health care overhaul, and the Mar 14-15 FOMC meeting minutes where some policy makers said that stock prices were “quite high” and where the FOMC said it would start reducing its balance sheet “later this year.” Stocks found early support on the Mar ADP employment report of +263,000, stronger than expectations of +185,000 and the most in 2-1/4 years.

Jun 10-year T-notes (ZNM17 unch) this morning are down -0.5 of a tick. Wednesday’s closes: TYM7 +0.50, FVM7 +1.50. Jun 10-year T-notes on Wednesday closed slightly higher on weakness in stocks and the U.S. Mar ISM non-manufacturing index report of -2.4 points to a 5-month low of 55.2. T-notes were undercut by the stronger-than-expected U.S. Mar ADP employment report and by the minutes from the Mar 14-15 FOMC meeting where policy makers said they would begin shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet later this year.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.01%) this morning is up +0.04 (+0.04%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0004 (+0.04%) and USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.16 (+0.14%). Wednesday’s closes: Dollar index +0.02 (+0.02%), EUR/USD -0.0011 (-0.10%), USD/JPY -0.04 (-0.04%). The dollar index on Wednesday rose to a 3-week high and settled higher. The dollar was boosted by the stronger-than-expected U.S. Mar ADP employment report (+263,000) and the Mar 14-15 FOMC minutes where the Fed it would likely start reducing its balance sheet later in the year.

May WTI crude oil prices (CLK17 +0.57%) this morning are up +11 cents (+0.22%) and May gasoline (RBK17 +0.26%) is -0.0003 (-0.02%). Wednesday’s closes: May crude +0.12 (+0.24%), May gasoline -0.0064 (-0.37%). May crude oil and gasoline on Wednesday settled mixed with May crude at a 4-week high. Crude oil was boosted by optimism that OPEC will extend its production cuts past June. Crude oil prices were undercut by the unexpected +1.57 million bbl increase in EIA crude inventories to a record 535.5 million bbl (vs expectations of -150,000 bbl), the +1.41 million bbl increase in crude supplies at Cushing, OK, delivery point of WTI futures, to a record 69.144 million bbl, and the +0.6% increase in U.S. crude production the week ended Mar 31 to a 14-month high of 9.199 million bpd.