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| | US Market |  | | NYSE | AMEX | Dow Jones | Nasdaq |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a roughly flat opening on Thursday, with sentiment reflecting nervousness despite the mood across the Atlantic remaining vibrant. The lackluster start to the reporting season could apply brake to the markets' upward momentum. Alcoa's earnings, though was a beat, revenues came light and in reaction, the stocks is down in pre-market trading. A report released short while ago showed that jobless claims rose by less than expected. The dollar's strength on expectations of premature rate tightening may also impact sentiment.
U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with tech stocks seeing notable strength, despite the Fed minutes relaying mixed views concerning the timing of the first rate hike. The major averages opened higher, although the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 Index showed some volatility, moving in and out of the negative territory a couple of time before recovering and ending modestly higher. The Nasdaq Composite hovered in positive territory throughout the session and closed notably higher.
The Dow Industrials ended up 27.09 points or 0.15 percent at 17,903 and the S&P 500 Index closed 5.57 points or 0.27 percent higher at 2,082, while the Nasdaq Composite ended at 4,951, up 40.59 points or 0.83 percent.
Twenty of the thirty Dow components closed higher and one stocks ended unchanged, while the remaining nine stocks declined. Home Depot (HD), Nike (NKE) and Visa (V) were among the biggest gainers of the session, while Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) retreated sharply.
Among the sectors, airline, biotechnology, retail, housing and brokerage stocks gained ground, while natural gas and gold stocks came under selling pressure.
On the economic front, the minutes of the March FOMC meeting showed division among the committee members over the timing for interest rate increases to begin. Depending on how the incoming data pans out, the first rate hike could occur anywhere between June of this year to the latter half of 2016.
It emerged from the minutes that all members unanimously supported the removal of the term 'patient' from the guidance. The minutes also revealed that the members believe in a very gradual implementation of policy normalization. |
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| | US Economic Reports | | | | CADUSD | Oil | Gold | Allbanc |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | Following last Friday's disappointing jobs data for the month of March, the Labor Department released a report showing a rebound in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended April 4th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 281,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level of 267,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 285,000 from the 268,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Commerce Department is due to release its wholesale inventories report for February at 10 am ET. Economists expect a 0.2 percent month-over-month increase in wholesale inventories.
Wholesale inventories rose 0.3 percent in January. At the same time, wholesale sales fell 3.1 percent. Annually, wholesale inventories were up 6.2 percent, while wholesales declined 1 percent. The inventories to sales ratio came in at 1.27 compared to 1.18 in the year-ago period.
The Treasury Department is scheduled to release the results of its auction of 30-year bonds at 1 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 | | | Alcoa (AA) reported first quarter adjusted earnings beat estimates, while its revenues were below expectations. The company upwardly revised its final 2014 global aluminum demand growth to 9 percent from 7 percent and continues to expect a 6.5 percent increase in demand to 57.5 million metric tons in 2015.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) reported in line fourth quarter earnings, while its revenues were slightly shy of estimates. The company also provided weak first quarter and full year 2015 earnings guidance.
Apogee Enterprises (APOG) reported better than expected fourth quarter results and its fiscal year 2016 guidance was in line.
Pier 1 Imports' (PIR) fourth quarter earnings exceeded estimates, while its revenues were shy of estimates. The company also revealed plans to close about 100 stores over the next three years.
Resource Connection (RECN) reported third quarter net income that was ahead of estimates, while its revenues trailed estimates.
WD-40 (WDFC) reported above-consensus results for its second quarter. Citing the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, the company lowered its guidance for the full year 2015.
Constellation Brands (STZ) reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings, while its revenues were in line. The company's 2016 earnings guidance was in line.
Costco Wholesale (COST) reported a comparable store sales decline of 2 percent for March, with the timing of Easter negatively impacting performance. Total sales were almost flat at $10.40 billion. Excluding the impact of gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, comparable store sales grew 4 percent in March.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) reported a 5.5 percent increase in comparable store sales for the five week period ended April 4th, 2015 compared to a 2.9 percent increase in the previous year, while total sales climbed 11.7 percent.
Apache (APA) announced an agreement to sell its Australian subsidiary Apache Energy Ltd. to a consortium managed by Macquarie Capital Group and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) for a cash payment of $2.1 billion. The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2015 and the effective date of the sale is October 1st, 2014.
IDEX Corp. (IEX) announced a 14 percent increase in its regular quarterly dividend to 32 cents per share. |
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| | European Markets | | European stocks opened higher and are sustaining their early gains following yesterday's setback. Domestic economic data, an upward revision to the Bank of France's economic growth forecast and relief over news that Greek paid 442 million euros due to the International Monetary Fund are all working to generate strength in the markets in the region, which are trading near 7-year highs.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England kept its key rate unchanged at a historic low, as widely expected, amid fears that the threat of deflation looms ahead of the general election in May. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Mark Carney, decided to retain the key bank rate at 0.50 percent.
The rate has been at the current 0.50 percent since March 2009. The size of the quantitative easing program was also maintained at 375 billion pounds. The quantitative easing was first introduced at the March 2009 meeting.
In corporate news, Mulberry said it expects full year profits to be ahead of the market view, thanks to cost controls.
Holcim and its French peer Lafarge have reportedly agreed to name Eric Olsen, a Lafarge executive, as Chief executive officer of the combined group on closing of their proposed merger.
On the economic front, the German Federal Statistical Office reported that German exports rose 1.5 percent month-over-month in February, reversing some of the 2.1 percent drop in January. Economists expected a more modest 1 percent increase. Imports climbed 1.8 percent. The unadjusted trade surplus surged up to 19.2 billion euros from 15.9 billion euros in January.
A separate government report showed that industrial production in Germany rose a better than expected 0.2 percent month-over-month in February.
A report released by Lloyds Banking Group's Halifax division showed that U.K. house prices rose 0.4 percent month-over-month in March compared to a 0.4 percent drop in February. Economists expected a mere 0.1 percent increase for the month.
The U.K.'s visible trade deficit came in at 10.3 billion pounds in February, wider than the 9 billion pound shortfall estimated by economists. |
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| | Asian markets | | | | USDCAD | USDEUR | USDGBP | USDJPY |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | The Asian markets closed on a mixed note, with the Japanese and Hong Kong markets advancing strongly, while most other major markets ended lower. The mixed performance came despite the positive lead from Wall Street and a rebound in energy prices.
The Japanese market benefited from the yen's weakness. The Nikkei 225 average opened higher and rose steadily until late morning trading. Thereafter, the average moved sideways before ending up 147.91 points or 0.75 percent at 19,938.
Export, real estate, pharma, financial and food stocks saw some strength, while resource and utility stocks came under selling pressure.
Australia's All Ordinaries Index traded in a nervous manner in early trading before declining steadily until late trading. Moving sideways thereafter, the index ended 26.80 points or 0.45 percent lower at 5,902.
A majority of stocks declined in the session, led by material and energy shares. On the other hand, consumer discretionary and utility stocks bucked the downtrend.
China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated on profit taking after its recent gains, with the index slipping 37.28 points or 0.93 percent before closing at 3,958.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 707.53 points or 2.70 percent before settling at a 7-year high of 26,944. The rally was attributed to the flow of money from mainland China through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme.
On the economic front, the Bank of Korea announced its decision to hold interest rate unchanged at 1.75 percent, with the decision coming in line with expectations. However, the central bank lowered its growth and inflation forecasts for 2015 and 2016.
A report released by the Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association showed that the construction sector in Australia moved into expansion territory in March. The construction sector PMI climbed to 50.1 in March from 43.9 in February. |
| | Currency and Commodities Markets | | Crude oil futures are climbing $0.85 to $51.27 a barrel after tumbling $3.56 to $50.42 a barrel on Wednesday.
The previous session's retreat came amid the dollar's strength in the wake of the FOMC minutes and the release of the petroleum status report, which showed a 10.9 million barrel increase in crude oil stockpiles to 482.4 million barrels in the week ended April 3rd. Inventories were at the highest level for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.
Gasoline inventories rose by 0.8 million barrels and were well above the upper limit of the average range. Meanwhile, distillate inventories edged down by 0.3 million barrels and were in the lower half of the average range.
Refinery capacity utilization averaged 89.2 percent over the four weeks ended April 3rd compared to 88.6 percent over the four weeks ended March 27th.
Gold futures, which declined $7.50 to $1,203.10 an ounce in the previous session, are currently slipping $3.90 to $1,199.20 an ounce.
Among currencies, the U.S. dollar is trading at 119.99 yen compared to the 120.13 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0770 compared to yesterday's $1.0781.
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