Live Index – Tue, 30 Dec 2014 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.28%) this morning are down -0.25% and European stocks are down -0.84% led by a slide in global energy producers as crude oil tumbled to a 5-1/2 year low. The yield on the Greek 10-year bond rose to a 1-1/4 year high of 9.558% as a Greek election next month rekindles European sovereign debt-crisis concerns, while the yield on Spain’s 10-year bond slid to a record low 1.596% after Spain Dec consumer prices fell -1.1% y/y, more than expectations of -0.7% y/y and the fastest pace of decline in over 5 years. Asian stocks closed mostly lower: Japan -1.57%, Hong Kong -1.14%, China +0.06%, Taiwan -0.19%, Australia -1.04%, Singapore -0.05%, South Korea -0.91%, India +0.03%. Japanese stocks closed lower as exporters fell after the yen rallied to a 1-week high against the dollar, which undercuts exporters’ earnings prospects. Commodity prices are mixed. Feb crude oil (CLG15 -0.65%) is down -0.13% at a 5-1/2 year low on concerns over oversupply on expectations that tomorrow’s EIA data will show U.S. crude stockpiles remained at 387.2 million bbl, the highest for this time of year since at least 1982. Feb gasoline (RBG15 -0.05%) is up +0.34%. Feb gold (GCG15 +0.25%) is up +0.44%. Mar copper (HGH15 +0.67%) is up +0.76%. Agriculture prices are mixed. The dollar index (DXY00 unch) is down -0.24% as it falls back from an 8-1/2 year high. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.10% as it recovers from a 2-1/3 year low. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -1.04 % at a 1-week low as a slide in global stocks boosts safe-haven demand for the yen. Mar T-note prices (ZNH15 +0.11%) are up +4.5 ticks.

The China Nov leading index dropped -0.20 from a downward revised 99.37 in Oct to 99.17, the lowest in 5-3/4 years.

U.K. Dec nationwide house prices rose +0.2% m/m and +7.2% y/y, right on expectations with the +7.2% y/y gain the slowest pace of increase in 13 months.

Eurozone Nov M3 money supply rose +3.1% y/y, more than expectations of +2.6% y/y and the fastest pace of increase in 19 months, The Nov M3 money supply 3-month average climbed +2.7%, better than expectations of +2.5% and the largest increase in 18 months.

Today’s Dec U.S. consumer confidence index from the Conference Board is expected to show a +5.2 point increase to 93.9, recovering most of November’s decline of -5.4 to 88.7.   Today’s Oct CaseShiller composite-20 home price index is expected to show an increase of +0.40% m/m, adding to the +0.34% increase seen in September.  There is 1 of the Russell 3000 companies that reports earnings today:  Hanger Inc (consensus $ 0.44).  There are no equity conferences this week.  

BB&T (BBT +0.41%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Rafferty Capital,

Piper Jaffray keeps an ‘Overweight’ rating on CBS (CBS +0.84%) and said it is a top pick for 2015.

Hyperion Therapeutics (HPTX +2.93%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at Brean Capital with a price target of $ 40.

Piper Jaffray keeps an ‘Overweight’ rating on Microsoft (MSFT -0.90%) and said it is a top pick for 2015.

QLogic (QLGC -0.62%) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ at DA Davidson with a price target of $ 17.

First Marblehead (FMD +14.72%) rose over 3% in after-hours trading after HC2 Holdings reported an 8.56% stake in the company.

SPO Partners reported a 7.9% stake in Oasis Petroleum (OAS -1.68%) .

MSD Capital reported a 5.1% passive stake in Esterline (ESL -0.28%) .

Gabelli reported a 5.24% stake in The Pantry (PTRY +0.32%) .

Tiger Global reported a 9.2% passive stake in OnDeck (ONDK -2.69%) .

Civeo Corp. (CVEO +2.61%) slumped over 20% in after-hours trading after it said it sees fiscal 2015 revenue of $ 540 million-$ 600 million, well below consensus of $ 817.2 million and said it will suspend its quarterly dividend.

Bulldog reported a 9.09% stake in Alliance New York Municipal Income Fund (AYN +0.76%) .

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.28%) this morning are down -5.25 points (-0.25%). The S&P 500 index on Monday posted a fresh record high and closed higher: S&P 500 +0.09%, Dow Jones -0.09%, Nasdaq -0.03%. Bullish factors included (1) carry-over support from a rally in Chinese stocks to a 4-3/4 year high on speculation the Chinese government will expand measures to spur economic growth, and (2) a rally in energy producers as fund managers bought energy stocks on speculation the recent sell-off in the energy sector was overdone.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH15 +0.11%) this morning are up +4.5 ticks. Mar 10-year T-note futures prices on Monday closed higher: TYH5 +12.0, FVH5 +7.25. Bullish factors included (1) carry-over support from a plunge in the German 10-year bund yield to a record low 0.541% on renewed Greek debt concerns, and (2) the larger-than-expected decline in the Dec Dallas Fed manufacturing outlook of general business activity to a 10-month low.

The dollar index (DXY00 unch) this morning is down -0.215 (-0.24%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0012 (+0.10%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -1.26 (-1.04%) at a 1-week low. The dollar index on Monday jumped to an 8-1/2 year high and closed higher. Closes: Dollar index +0.160 (+0.18%), EUR/USD -0.00301 (-0.25%), USD/JPY +0.304 (+0.25%). The main bullish factor was weakness in EUR/USD which fell to a 2-1/3 year low on renewed European sovereign debt concerns after Greece’s prime minister failed to get his presidential candidate confirmed, which triggered early elections on Jan 25 that may give power to the anti-austerity Syriza party that seeks to renegotiate Greek’s debt.

Feb WTI crude oil (CLG15 -0.65%) this morning is down -7 cents (-0.13%) at a new 5-1/2 year low and Feb gasoline (RBG15 -0.05%) is up +0.0050 (+0.34%). Feb crude and Feb gasoline prices on Monday plunged to 5-1/2 year lows and closed lower. Closes: CLG5 -1.12 (-2.05%), RBG5 -0.0549 (-3.60%). Bearish factors included (1) the rally in the dollar index to an 8-1/2 year high, and (2) a possible price war between Canada and Mexico after Petroleos Mexicanos cut its Dec crude price to U.S. buyers by the most in 1-1/4 years in an attempt to maintain its market share of U.S. heavy-crude imports after Canada said its Seaway Twin pipeline will double the amount of heavy Canadian crude to U.S. Gulf oil terminals to 400,000 bpd in Jan and will make the price of Canadian crude the same as Mexican crude arriving by tanker.