Stock indices closed mixed after the mostly weaker-than-expected economic data from Eurozone. German preliminary consumer price index dropped 1.0% in January, missing expectations for a 0.7% decline, after a flat reading in December.
On a yearly basis, German preliminary consumer price index decreased to -0.3% in January from 0.2% in December, missing forecasts for a flat reading. That was the lowest level since July 2009.
The number of unemployed people in Germany declined by 8,000 in January, missing expectations for a 13,000 decline, after a 25,000 drop in December. December's figure was revised down from a 27,000 decrease.
Germany's adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.5% in January from 6.6% in December, in line with expectations. December's figure was revised down from 6.5%.
Eurozone's adjusted M3 money supply rose 3.6% in December, after a 3.1 gain in November.
Investors remained cautious amid concerns over Greece's future policy. Syriza party won the country's parliament elections on Sunday. The party has pledged to renegotiate the terms of the country's €240 billion euro financial bailout and to reverse many of the austerity measures.
Indexes on the close:
Name Price Change Change %
FTSE 100 6,810.6 -15.34 -0.22%
DAX 10,737.87 +26.90 +0.25%
CAC 40 4,631.43 +20.49 +0.44%
Dow 17,196.32 +4.95 +0.03%
Nasdaq 4,641.42 +3.43 +0.07%
S&P 500 2,006.06 +3.90 +0.19%
10 Year Yield 1.76% +0.03 --
Gold $1,270.80 -15.10 -1.17%
Oil $44.85 +0.40 +0.90%
U.S. stock-index futures rose as jobless claims fell to a 15-year low and companies from Ford Motor Co. to Coach Inc. advanced on earnings reports.
Global markets:
Nikkei 17,606.22 -189.51 -1.06%
Hang Seng 24,595.85 -265.96 -1.07%
Shanghai Composite 3,263.73 -42.00 -1.27%
FTSE 6,788.26 -37.68 -0.55%
CAC 4,597.69 -13.25 -0.29%
DAX 10,686.37 -24.60 -0.23%
Crude oil $44.52 (+0.16%)
Gold $1269.50 (-1.28%)
(company / ticker / price / change, % / volume)
Goldman Sachs | GS | 173.54 | +0.28% | 0.4K |
Caterpillar Inc | CAT | 79.99 | -0.02% | 3.1K |
HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. | HON | 99.80 | -0.02% | 0.1K |
International Business Machines Co... | IBM | 151.50 | -0.03% | 3.1K |
Starbucks Corporation, NASDAQ | SBUX | 87.50 | -0.07% | 9.7K |
Boeing Co | BA | 139.49 | -0.11% | 3.4K |
Verizon Communications Inc | VZ | 46.00 | -0.11% | 22.7K |
Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 101.30 | -0.18% | 0.3K |
Walt Disney Co | DIS | 92.50 | -0.18% | 1.3K |
Microsoft Corp | MSFT | 41.10 | -0.22% | 34.0K |
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co | DD | 71.44 | -0.38% | 0.1K |
Twitter, Inc., NYSE | TWTR | 37.00 | -0.40% | 64.3K |
Barrick Gold Corporation, NYSE | ABX | 12.37 | -1.90% | 44.0K |
Yahoo! Inc., NASDAQ | YHOO | 43.10 | -7.23% | 11.3M |
Facebook, Inc. | FB | 76.26 | +0.03% | 611.2K |
Intel Corp | INTC | 33.80 | +0.07% | 1.2K |
Cisco Systems Inc | CSCO | 26.83 | +0.09% | 0.3K |
Wal-Mart Stores Inc | WMT | 86.91 | +0.10% | 0.1K |
Google Inc. | GOOG | 510.50 | +0.10% | 2.4K |
Home Depot Inc | HD | 104.85 | +0.11% | 0.2K |
Amazon.com Inc., NASDAQ | AMZN | 304.26 | +0.12% | 6.9K |
The Coca-Cola Co | KO | 41.99 | +0.17% | 2.6K |
Procter & Gamble Co | PG | 85.30 | +0.18% | 0.9K |
American Express Co | AXP | 81.90 | +0.21% | 2.3K |
General Electric Co | GE | 23.89 | +0.21% | 24.4K |
ALCOA INC. | AA | 15.84 | +0.25% | 3.7K |
Chevron Corp | CVX | 104.00 | +0.28% | 1.0K |
ALTRIA GROUP INC. | MO | 54.20 | +0.35% | 0.1K |
AT&T Inc | T | 32.80 | +0.37% | 5.0K |
Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM | 88.28 | +0.38% | 9.0K |
Citigroup Inc., NYSE | C | 47.31 | +0.45% | 26.9K |
Yandex N.V., NASDAQ | YNDX | 15.48 | +0.45% | 3.7K |
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., NYSE | FCX | 17.52 | +0.57% | 11.0K |
Nike | NKE | 94.00 | +0.74% | 0.4K |
General Motors Company, NYSE | GM | 33.11 | +0.82% | 5.5K |
Apple Inc. | AAPL | 116.30 | +0.86% | 532.2K |
Tesla Motors, Inc., NASDAQ | TSLA | 201.19 | +0.91% | 7.9K |
Ford Motor Co. | F | 14.61 | +1.04% | 403.9K |
McDonald's Corp | MCD | 91.25 | +2.78% | 165.1K |
FedEx Corporation, NYSE | FDX | 171.45 | 0.00% | 0.2K |
Upgrades:
Downgrades:
Other:
Facebook (FB) target raised to $90 from $80 at Cantor Fitzgerald
Facebook (FB) target raised to $90 from $88 at Canaccord Genuity
Facebook (FB) target lowered to $90 from $92 at RBC Capital Mkts
Boeing (BA) target raised to $145 from $141 at RBC Capital Mkts
Ford (F) earned $0.26 per share in the fourth quarter, beating analysts' estimate of $0.23. Revenue in the fourth quarter decreased 5.1% year-over-year to $33.80 billion, missing analysts' estimate of $34.43 billion.
The company released its forecasts for fiscal year 2015. Revenue is expected to be higher than $135.8 billion in fiscal year 2015 (analysts' estimate: $144.88 billion).
According to Ford (F), the company expects to sell 17.0-17.5 million cars in the U.S., 14.8-15.3 million cars in Europe and 24.5-26.5 in China in 2015.
Ford (F) shares increased to $14.67 (+1.45%) prior to the opening bell.
Facebook (FB) earned $0.54 per share in the fourth quarter, beating analysts' estimate of $0.48. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 49.0% year-over-year to $3.85 billion, exceeding analysts' estimate of $3.78 billion.
Facebook (FB) shares decreased to $75.64 (-0.79%) prior to the opening bell.
European indices reverse early declines after the upbeat outlook from the FED on the U.S. economy and its plan to hike interest rates this year, repeating its patient approach. Worries over Greece's future in the Eurozone weigh on the markets as the new Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas sticks to his promises to roll back austerity measures.
Disappointing corporate results from Royal Dutch Shell Plc led energy shares lower.
Earlier today data on German Unemployment Change and Unemployment Rate were released. The Unemployment Rate of the largest economy in the Eurozone was in line with expectations at 6.5% in January compared to revised 6.6% in the previous month. The number of people being unemployed fell by 8,000 compared to forecasts of 13,000.
Eurozone's Private Loans increased by +3.1%, M3 Money Supply rose by +3.6% in December compared to +3.1% in November.
Germany's CPI data is due at 13:00 GMT, followed by U.S. Initial Jobless Claims and Pending Home Sales.
The commodity heavy FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.58% quoted at 6,786.18 points. Germany's DAX 30 lost -0.01% trading at 10,709.75, almost flat reversing early losses, being quoted below its all-time high at 10,810.57 hit on Tuesday. France's CAC 40 is currently trading at 4,617.44 points, +0.14%.
European indices declined in early trading after the FED's upbeat outlook for the U.S. economy and its signal to be on track raising interest rates this year. Worries over Greece's future in the Eurozone weigh on the markets as the new Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas sticks to his promises to roll back austerity measures. Corporate results in the energy sector also led markets lower. Mining and financial stocks were also under pressure.
Data on German Unemployment Change and Unemployment Rate were released today at 08:55 GMT. The Unemployment Rate of the largest economy in the Eurozone was in line with expectations at 6.5% in January compared to revised 6.6% in the previous month. The number of people being unemployed fell by 8,000 compared to forecasts of 13,000.
Eurozone's Private Loans increased by +3.1%, M3 Money Supply rose by +3.6% in December compared to +3.1% in November.
Germany's CPI data is due at 13:00 GMT, followed by U.S. Initial Jobless Claims and Pending Home Sales.
The commodity heavy FTSE 100 index is currently trading -0.78% quoted at 6,772.93 points. U.K.'s Nationwide House Price Index for January grew below estimates at +0.3%. On a yearly basis the index added +6.8% beating estimates by 0.2%. Germany's DAX 30 declined by -0.71% trading at 10,635.17, further retreating from an all-time high at 10,810.57 hit on Tuesday. France's CAC 40 lost -0.63%, currently trading at 4,581.72 points.
U.S. markets closed lower on Wednesday after the FOMC statement. Yesterday the Federal Open Market Committee gave a confident outlook on higher inflation and lower unemployment which can be seen as indication that the FED will stick to its plan on hiking interest rates in 2015 for the first time since 2006. The bank will take "international developments" into account when deciding on the exact timing. All members of the FOMC unanimously backed the statement as solid economic growth fuels optimism despite a stronger dollar and declining oil prices. As oil slumped energy shares led indices lower. The DOW JONES index lost -1.13% after declining by -1.65% yesterday, closing at 17,191.37 points. The S&P 500 declined by -1.35% with a final quote of 2,002.16 points - just marginally above the psychologically important level of 2,000 points.
Chinese stock markets traded lower on Thursday after Chinese regulators is launching inspections into brokerages that allow margin trading as concerns rise that markets are becoming over-leveraged. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading -1.09% at 24,590.38 points. China's Shanghai Composite closed at 3,263.73 points -1.27%.
Japan's Nikkei posted the biggest drop in 14 days on disappointing corporate earnings data and the FOMC statement after reaching monthly highs in yesterday's trading, closing -1.06% with a final quote of 17,606.22.
EUR / USD
Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)
$1.1534 (2970)
$1.1464 (3050)
$1.1409 (1417)
Price at time of writing this review: $1.1276
Support levels (open interest**, contracts):
$1.1205 (1668)
$1.1144 (4424)
$1.1070 (2418)
Comments:
- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date February, 6 is 82105 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2100 (6557);
- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date February, 6 is 75096 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1700 (6682);
- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 0.92 versus 0.94 from the previous trading day according to data from January, 28
GBP/USD
Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)
$1.5401 (551)
$1.5303 (664)
$1.5207 (1079)
Price at time of writing this review: $1.5142
Support levels (open interest**, contracts):
$1.5094 (1840)
$1.4996 (1038)
$1.4898 (1712)
Comments:
- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date February, 6 is 16794 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,5150 (1136);
- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date February, 6 is 17252 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,5100 (1840);
- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.02 versus 1.03 from the previous trading day according to data from January, 28
* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.
** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.
(index / closing price / change items /% change)
S&P/ASX 200 5,552.78 +5.56 +0.10%
SHANGHAI COMP 3,306.54 -46.42 -1.38%
HANG SENG 24,852.07 +44.79 +0.18%
FTSE 100 6,825.94 +14.33 +0.21%
CAC 40 4,610.94 -13.27 -0.29%
DAX 10,710.97 +82.39 +0.78%
Dow -189.67 17,197.54 -1.09%
Nasdaq -43.51 4,637.99 -0.93%
S&P -27.08 2,002.47 -1.33%