Live Index – Tue, 06 Jan 2015 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 +0.25%) this morning are up +0.29% and European stocks are up +0.34% as stocks stabilized following Monday’s rout. Gains were muted on concern energy producers may weaken again after the price of crude oil fell to a new 5-1/2 year low. Another negative for European stocks was signs of weakness in the economy after the Eurozone Dec Markit composite PMI was revised downward. Asian stocks closed mostly lower: Japan -3.02%, Hong Kong -0.99%, China unch, Taiwan -2.43%, Australia -1.57%, Singapore -1.39%, South Korea -1.77%, India -3.07%. China’s Shanghai Stock Index closed little changed and rose to a 5-1/2 year high on expectations for the government to accelerate over 300 infrastructure projects valued at 7 trillion yuan ($ 1.1 trillion) in an attempt to spur economic growth, according to people familiar with the matter. Commodity prices are mixed. Feb crude oil (CLG15 -1.60%) is down -1,64% at a fresh 5-1/2 year low on concern over growing supplies with Wednesday’s weekly EIA data expected to show U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 750,000 bbl. Feb gasoline (RBG15 -1.25%) is down -1.17% at a 5-1/2 year low. Feb gold (GCG15 +0.45%) is up +0.42% at a 2-1/2 week high on increased safe-haven demand over concern that Jan 25 elections in Greece could lead to Greece exiting the Eurozone. Mar copper (HGH15 -0.11%) is down -0.14%. Agriculture prices are mixed. The dollar index (DXY00 +0.29%) is up +0.25%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.29%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.23% at a 2-week low. Mar T-note prices (ZNH15 +0.27%) are up 8 ticks at a 2-1/2 week high on carry-over support from a rally in German bunds that pushed the 10-year German bund yield down to a record low 0.467%.

The German Dec Markit services PMI was revised upward to 52.1 from the originally reported 51.4 and matched Nov as the slowest pace of expansion in 17 months.

The Eurozone Dec Markit composite PMI was revised lower to 51.4 from the originally reported 51.7.

The UK Dec Markit/CIPS services PMI fell -2.8 to 55.8, a bigger decline than expectations of -0.1 to 58.5 and the slowest pace of expansion in 19 months.

The China Dec HSBC services PMI rose +0.4 to 53.4, the fastest pace of expansion in 3 months.

Today’s Nov factory orders report is expected to show a decline of -0.5%, adding to the -0.7% decline seen in October. Today’s Dec ISM non-manufacturing index is expected to show a -1.3 point decline to 58.0, reversing part of November’s +2.2 point increase to 59.3. There is one of the Russell 1000 companies that reports earnings today: Micron Technology (consensus $ 0.93).

Equity equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: Goldman Sachs CEO Unscripted Health Care Conference on Tue, Nomura Technology Conference at CES on Tue, J.P. Morgan Tech Forum on Tue, Wolfe Research Refiners Conference on Tue, Citi Global Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference on Tue-Wed, Goldman Sachs Global Energy Conference on Wed-Thu, and Evercore ISI Utility Conference on Thu-Fri.

Darden Restaurants (DRI -0.74%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Perform’ at Oppenheimer.

Michael Kors (KORS -2.38%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ at Credit Suisse.

Valspar (VAL -1.08%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Credit Suisse.

General Electric (GE -1.84%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at Deutsche Bank.

H.B. Fuller (FUL -1.99%) was downgraded to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ at KeyBanc.

Oracle (ORCL -1.67%) was upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Piper Jaffray.

FedEx (FDX -1.54%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at UBS.

CSX (CSX -2.71%) and Norfolk Southern (NSC -2.53%) were both downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at UBS.

AOL INC. (AOL -1.65%) jumped 12% in pre-market trading after people with knowledge of the matter said Verizon Communications approached the company about a potential acquisition or joint venture.

Helix Energy (HLX -4.85%) said its fiscal 2014 EPS view will be $ 1.85-$ 1.95, at the lower end of consensus of $ 1.95 with fiscal 2014 revenue of $ 1.11 billion, less than consensus of $ 1.13 billion, and said the recent slide in oil prices dampens its outlook for 2015.

Point72 Asset reported a 5.9% passive stake in Clearwater Paper (CLW +0.33%) .

Gabelli raiseed its stake in Chiquita (CQB +0.07%) to 9.41% from 8.16%.

Minerva (NERV -1.80%) surged over 70% in after-hours trading after it reported that data on its MIN-301 drug study showed improvements in a range of symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease in primates.

Raging Capital reported a 14.5% stake in A. M. Castle (CAS -9.47%) .

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 +0.25%) this morning are up +5.75 points (+0.29%). The S&P 500 index on Monday dropped to a 2-week low and closed sharply lower: S&P 500 -1.83%, Dow Jones -1.86%, Nasdaq -1.64%. Bearish factors included (1) carry-over weakness from a slide in European stocks on Greek sovereign debt concerns after Greek Prime Minster Samaras said that Greece may be forced to leave the Eurozone if the anti-austerity Syriza party, which currently leads in the polls, wins election on Jan 25, and (2) a slide in energy producers after the price of crude oil tumbled to a 5-1/2 year low.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH15 +0.27%) this morning are up +8 ticks at a 2-1/2 week high. Mar 10-year T-note futures prices on Monday climbed to a 2-week high and closed higher. Closes: TYH5 +19.5, FVH5 +7.00. Bullish factors included (1) increased safe-haven demand for T-notes after the S&P 500 tumbled to a 2-week low and (2) carry-over support from a plunge in the 10-year German bund yield to a record low 0.492% on speculation the ECB will soon embark on QE after German Dec CPI rose at the slowest pace in 5 years.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.29%) this morning is up +0.224 (+0.25%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0035 (-0.29%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.28 (-0.23%) at a 2-week low. The dollar index on Monday posted a new 9-year high and closed higher: Dollar index +0.298 (+0.33%), EUR/USD -0.00665 (-0.55%), USD/JPY -0.723 (-0.60%). The main bearish factor was weakness in EUR/USD which sank to an 8-3/4 year low on (1) speculation the ECB is closer to large-scale sovereign-bond purchases after the German Dec CPI fell to a 5-year low of +0.1% y/y, and (2) concern that Greece may again default on its debt and leave the Eurozone after polls show the anti-austerity Syriza party is leading ahead of the Jan 25 elections.

Feb WTI crude oil (CLG15 -1.60%) this morning is down -82 cents (-1.64%) at a fresh 5-1/2 year low and Feb gasoline (RBG15 -1.25%) is down -0.0162 (-1,17%) at a 5-1/2 year low. Feb crude and Feb gasoline on Monday slumped to 5-1/2 year lows and closed lower: CLG5 -2.65 (-5.03%), RBG5 -0.0553 (-3.86%). Bearish factors included (1) the rally in the dollar index to a 9-year high, and (2) signs of global oversupply after Russian Dec oil production rose +0.3% to a post-Soviet record of 10.667 million bpd and after Iraq Dec oil exports climbed to 2.94 million bpd, the most since the 1980s.