Live Index – Mon, 14 Jul 2014 Premarket

September E-mini S&Ps (ESU14 +0.33%) this morning are up +0.31% and European stocks are up +0.54% on reduced Portugal debt concerns as Portuguese government bond yields fell after Banco Espiritos Santo SA’s parent sold a 4.99% stake to meet loan repayments. Increased M&A activity is also giving U.S. stocks a lift after Aecom Technology agreed to buy URS Corporation for about $ 4 billion. Also, generic drug maker Mylan said it is buying Abbot Laboratories’ generic-drug business in developed markets for stock valued at about $ 5.3 billion. Russia’s Micex Stock Index and the ruble moved lower as Russia and Germany called for a resumption of Ukraine crisis talks after an artillery shell landed in Russian territory, killing one person. Asian stocks closed mostly higher: Japan +0.88%, Hong Kong +0.49%, China +1.11%, Taiwan +0.26%, Australia +0.45%, Singapore -0.08%, South Korea +0.21%, India -0.07%. China’s Shanghai Stock Index rallied up to a 3-1/2 week high, led by gains in automakers, after the Chinese government said that it is mandating that electric cars make up at least 30% of government vehicle purchases by 2016. Chinese utility stocks and consumer-staples stocks gained on speculation profit will beat estimates. Commodity prices are mixed. Aug crude oil (CLQ14 -0.36%) is down -0.38% at a 1-3/4 month low after a spokesman for Libya’s state-run National Oil Company said the country’s oil production has risen to 470,000 bpd from a previous estimate last week of 350,000 bpd. Aug gasoline (RBQ14 +0.45%) is up +0.43%. Aug gold (GCQ14 -1.53%) is down -1.14% as Portugal debt concerns eased and curbed safe-haven demand for gold. Sep copper (HGU14 -0.23%) is down -0.06%. Agriculture prices are mixed with Dec corn down -0.45% at a new contract low after the USDA on Friday raised its U.S. and global corn ending stocks estimates. The dollar index (DXY00 -0.05%) is down -0.05%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.16%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.17%. Sep T-note prices (ZNU14 -0.04%) are down -1 tick.

Eurozone May industrial production fell -1.1% m/m and rose +0.5% y/y, close to expectations of -1.2% m/m and +0.5% y/y.

The Japan May industrial production was revised higher to +0.7% m/m and +1.0% y/y from the originally reported +0.5% m/m and +0.8% y/y.

This will be a busy week with Yellen testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday and a heavy schedule of U.S. economic reports. There is one S&P 500 company that reports earnings today: Citigroup (consensus $ 1.06). There are no equity conferences this week.

Stifel raised its price target on SanDisk (SNDK +1.16%) to $ 114 from $ 95 and keeps a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock as it expects SanDisk’s June quarter results to beat consensus estimates.

Colfax (CFX +0.07%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Argus.

Covidien (COV +0.41%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at Piper Jaffray.

DreamWorks Animation (DWA -0.53%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at B. Riley.

Alcentra Capital (ABDC -2.07%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Outperform’ at Raymond James.

eBay (EBAY +2.32%) was downgraded to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ at Pacific Crest.

Wells Fargo (WFC -0.62%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ at JPMorgan.

FMC Corporation (FMC +0.17%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Jefferies.

Apple (AAPL +0.19%) rose 1.3% in pre-market trading after Barclays raised its recommendation on the company to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight.’

Alcoa (AA +2.24%) late Friday filed a $ 5 billion mixed securities shelf registration.

Noble Corp’s (NE -0.75%) board approved a spin-off of Paragon Offshore.

Sep E-mini S&Ps (ESU14 +0.33%) this morning are up +6.00 points (+0.31%). The S&P 500 index on Friday recovered modestly from Thursday’s 2-week low on (1) a recovery in Banco Espirito Santo, Portugal’s second-largest bank, after the bank detailed its exposure to its troubled parent, which led to a -12 bp drop in Portugal’s 10-year bond yield and reduced concerns about the European banking system, and (2) strength in tech stocks as Amazon.com rallied +5.6% and Ebay rallied +2.3% on positive sales news. The main bearish factor was another hawkish comment by a Fed official after Philadelphia Fed President Plosser on Friday said that the U.S. economic data already indicates the need to tighten monetary policy. Closes: S&P 500 +0.15%, Dow Jones +0.17%, Nasdaq +0.44%.

Sep 10-year T-notes (ZNU14 -0.04%) this morning are down -1 tick. Sep 10-year T-note futures prices closed slightly higher on Friday on some carry-over concerns about the Eurozone banking system and on the weekly drop in the U.S. stock market. Closes: TYU4 +1.5, FVU4 +1.25.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.05%) this morning is trading down -0.039 (-0.05%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0022 (+0.16%) and USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.17 (+0.17%). The dollar index on Friday closed slightly higher while EUR and JPY closed little changed. EUR received some support from reduced concern about the Eurozone debt crisis with the -12 bp drop in Portugal’s bond yields on reduced concern about exposure of Portugal’s second largest bank to bad debts from its parent company. Closes: Dollar index +0.06 (+0.07%), EUR/USD -0.0001 (-0.01%). USD/JPY -0.04 (-0.04%).

Aug WTI crude oil (CLQ14 -0.36%) this morning is down -38 cents (-0.38%) at a 1-3/4 month low and Aug gasoline (RBQ14 +0.45%) is up +0.0125 (+0.43%). Aug crude and gasoline prices on Friday fell sharply on continued concern about increased global oil supplies with Libya reopening ports that were previously blocked by rebels. Closes: CLQ4 -2.10 (-2.04%), RBQ4 -0.0491 -0.0491 (-1.66%).