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| | US Market | | The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with sentiment suggesting that the upward momentum is still intact, although a bit tempered. Earnings news has largely been encouraging, with companies especially from the tech space reporting encouraging results. Recent economic evidence has also revealed no serious threat to the economic momentum. The existing home sales report and the Fed speeches due for the day may shed additional clarity to the economic outlook, thereby offering cues to markets.
U.S. stocks advanced notably on Thursday, aided by strong manufacturing data. The major averages opened higher after separate reports showed that jobless claims fell roughly in line with expectations and manufacturing growth accelerated. Although the averages gave back their gains and retreated into negative territory in late morning trading, they rebounded despite the release of a downbeat regional manufacturing reading and advanced steadily throughout the remainder of the session before closing higher.
The Dow Industrials ended up 92.67 points or 0.58 percent at 16,133, the S&P 500 Index closed 11.03 points or 0.60 percent higher at 1,840 and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 4,268, up 29.55 points or 0.70 percent.
Twenty-four of the thirty Dow components closed higher, while the remaining six stocks ended in negative territory. Home Depot , Merck , NIKE , AT&T, Verizon and Exxon Mobil were among the biggest gainers of the session, while Wal-Mart slid 1.78 percent in reaction to its financial results.
Transportation, basic material, gold, utility, brokerage and biotech stocks saw notable strength.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims fell to 336,000 in the week ended February 14th from 339,000 in the previous week. At the same time, the four-week average edged up to 338,000 from 337,000. Continuing claims calculated with a week's lag fell 16,000 to 2.991 million in the week ended January 18th.
A separate labor Department report showed that consumer prices rose 0.1 percent month-over-month in January, in line with estimates. The annual rate of the increase in producer prices was 1.6 percent. The annual rate of core inflation was also 1.6 percent. Energy prices rose 0.6 percent month-over-month and food prices edged up 0.1 percent.
The results of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's survey showed that its manufacturing index fell to -6.3 in February from 9.4 in January, marking the first negative reading since May 2013. The new orders index declined 10 points to -5.2, the number of employees index fell 5.2 points to 4.8 and the average workweek index dipped to -7 from -5.3. The order backlogs index continued to be in negative territory for the fourth straight month. At the same time, the 6-month outlook index rose 5.8 points to 40.2.
The Conference Board reported that its leading economic indicators index rose 0.3 percent month-over-month in January following an unchanged reading in December. The lagging economic indicators index also increased by 0.3 percent and the coincident economic indicators index edged up merely 0.1 percent.
Riding on the manufacturing data, The Dow Industrials successfully challenged its 50-day MA currently at 16,108 yesterday. On the upside, the index has strong resistances around 16,196, 16,293, 16,369 and 16,479. On the downside, the index could find support around its 50-day MA. Apart from the level, areas of support could also be found around 16,030, its 21-day MA currently at 15,878 100-day MA currently at 15,845 and 15,740. |
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| | US Economic Reports |  | | CADUSD | Oil | Gold | Allbanc |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | The National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its existing home sales report for January at 10 am ET. Economists estimate existing home sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million units. Existing home sales came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.87 million units in December. The November reading was downwardly revised by 80,000 to 4.82 million units. Single-family sales rose 1.9 percent, while condominium/co-operative sales declined 5 percent. First time buyers accounted for 27 percent of the total, the lowest ever contribution. Inventories as measured by the months of supply slid to 4.6 months in December from 5.1 in November, the lowest inventory levels since February 2013.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is scheduled to speak on the economic outlook and monetary policy in St. Louis at 1:10 pm ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher will speak on the economic outlook in Austin at 1:45 pm ET.
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| | Stocks in Focus | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | Hewlett-Packard reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded estimates and it revenue, despite declining slightly, were ahead of expectations, The company's first quarter earnings guidance was lukewarm but full year guidance was in line.
Intuit reported second quarter non-GAAP earnings of 2 cents per share on revenues of $782 million. The earnings were in line, but revenues missed estimates. For the full year, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of $3.52 to $3.60 per share on revenues of $4.440 billion to $4.525 billion. The guidance was in line.
Allscripts reported fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings of 8 cents per share on revenues of $351 million. The earnings were in line and revenues exceeded estimates.
Juniper Networks announced integrated operating plan to refocus on key innovations. The company also committed to return at least $3 billion to shareholders over the next three years via share repurchases and dividends. The company also said its board has authorized a$2 billion in share buyback.
Marvell Technology reported better than expected fourth quarter results and issued strong outlook for the first quarter. The company also announced the appointment of Michael Rashkin as its CFO, effective February 17th.
Nordstrom reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded estimates, while its revenues were below estimates. The company guided 2014 earnings below estimates.
Arun Networks' second quarter results exceeded estimates. The company also announced an additional $200 million share repurchase program. Groupon reported fourth quarter results that were ahead of estimates but issued weak first quarter guidance.
Mohawk reported third quarter adjusted earnings of $1.79 per share on net sales of $1.92 billion. The earnings exceeded estimates and the revenues were in line. The company issued weak first quarter guidance. |
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| | European Market | | European stocks opened higher and saw some volatility in the first hour of trading. Since then, the averages have recovered and are in positive territory.
In corporate news, French insurer AXA reported a 10 percent increase in its profits for the full year, although its earnings were below estimates by some analysts. Royal Dutch Shell announced that it has agreed to sell its Australia downstream businesses, excluding Aviation, to Dutch-owned Oil trader Vitol for about A$2.9 billion.
On the economic front, The Office for National Statistics reported that U.K. retail sales declined more than expected in January due to a notable decrease in food store sales. Including automotive fuel, retail sales fell 1.5 percent month-over-month in January, the first decline in three months. Economists were expecting sales to decline 1 percent following a 2.5 percent rise in December. |
| | Asian Markets | | | | USDCAD | USDEUR | USDGBP | USDJPY |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | Encouraged by Wall Street's lead, the major Asian markets advanced notably, with the exception of the Chinese markets. The Japanese market led the gains, as it staged a remarkable turnaround from the previous session's losses.
The turnaround by the Japanese markets came about due to the yen's retreat. The Nikkei 225 average opened higher and advanced steadily throughout the session before closing 416.49 points or 2.88 percent higher at 14,866. The market witnessed broad based strength, with all but two of the index components advancing in the session.
Australia's All Ordinaries held above the unchanged line for the better part of the session before closing up 28.10 points or 0.52 percent at 5,449. Material and consumer staple stocks are advancing strongly in the session, although energy and IT stocks came under selling pressure.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 22,568, up 174.16 points or 0.78 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid 25.09 points or 1.17 percent before closing at 2,114 amid concerns about a slowdown domestically.
On the economic front, the minutes of the Bank of Japan's January policy meeting showed that board members favor additional easing longer than the two-year official timeframe, if global economic conditions threaten Japan's recovery. |
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| | Currency and Commodities Markets | | In the first day of trading as the front month contract, Crude oil futures for March delivery are slipping $0.29 to $102.46 an ounce. The February futures expired at $102.92 a barrel on Thursday, down $0.39.
The previous session's retreat came amid the release of the petroleum status report for the week ended February 14th, which showed that Crude oil inventories rose by 1 million barrels to 362.3 million barrels. Inventories were in the upper half of the average range for this time of the year.
Gasoline stockpiles edged up by 0.3 million barrels and were well above the upper limit of the average range. On the other hand, distillate inventories slipped by 0.3 million barrels and remained well below the lower limit of the average range. Refinery capacity utilization averaged 87 percent over the four weeks ended February 14th, the same rate over the four weeks ended February 7th.
An ounce of Gold is trading at 1,323.20, up $6.30 from the $1,316.90 at which it closed on Thursday. In the previous session, Gold declined $3.50.
Among currencies, the U.S. dollar is trading at 102.54 yen compared to the 102.28 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.3711 compared to yesterday's $1.3719.
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