Futures are trending higher as reaction to the Fed’s comments continued over into today. Netflix’s beat on earnings yesterday is also helping to prop up the market that is looking to extend its run. Dow futures are currently up 52 points to 12,740. Nasdaq 100 futures are following suit, up 4.75 points to 2,465. The S&P 500 futures are up a modest 4.50 points to 1,324.75.
The economic data calendar is stacked today with multiple reports set to be released at 8:30am EST. These include jobless claims, durable goods and the Chicago Fed national activity numbers. Consensus expectations are that the jobless claims will come of their low of last week and settle around 373k. This would still keep the downward trend, seen since September, intact. Check out one of the best swing traders on the street.
At 10am, new home sales and leading indicators for December will be released.
Yesterday’s Fed announcement is helping to underpin the global rally. The issue here is that it provides fuel for both bulls and the bears. For the bulls the era of free money is still alive and kicking. For the bears, the continuous flow of cheap money and ‘printing’ signals to them an incoming depression.
Europe was enjoying a break from the headlines with the Fed announcement. Major indices in the EU are rallying off the Fed keeping rates low into 2014. Their issues still remain and it looks like another one is creeping up. The Greek issue is still outstanding and it looks like creditors are creating their own red line.
Outside of Greece a new problem is creeping up. Portugal. Looking at bond yields you would be forgiven if you thought the chart was a Greek on. Today the 10 year passed 15%. Obviously this makes their debt servicing unsustainable and it will not be long until you hear the clamoring for a bailout in one of the poorer EU countries.
Stocks to watch today include Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK), Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ:HGSI), Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE:CAT)
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is up 18.40% in pre market trading at $112.50. NFLX shares are jumping this morning. Netflix saw profit fall in the fourth quarter by 13%, but beat analysts’ estimates. The company earned $0.73 per share on $876 million in revenue. Estimates were at $0.54 pe share on revenue of $596 million. Netflix lost 2.76 million domestic DVD customers as users move toward the streaming model. The company has a market cap of 4.99 billion.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is up 4.55% today at $5.50 in early trading this morning. NOK announced fourth quarter results just a short time ago. Nokia posted a fourth quarter loss of $1.38 billion with smartphone sales plunging 23%. The company sold well over a million devices in their new Lumia line which investors saw as positive news. NOK trades on average 30.4 million shares a day and has a market cap of 19.55 billion. Check out one of the best swing traders on the street.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is up 0.53% in pre market trading at $188.79. AMZN shares are up more than $10 in the past 10 days. Following Netflix’s stellar fourth quarter, it’s looking more likely that Amazon will offer its own stand alone streaming service. AMZN trades 6.3 million shares a day on average and has a market cap of 85.40 billion.
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:HGSI) is up 1.31% in pre market trading at $10.05. HGSI shares are up around $3 on the year so far as investors look forward to see if the company’s lupus drug gets approved later this year. The company has a market cap of 1.97 billion.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is up nearly 1% in pre market trading at $2.10. SIRI has maintained its recent gains after reporting a jump in subscribers earlier this year. Shares are up more than $0.20 on the year. SIRI trades 54.9 million shares a day on average and has a market cap of 7.80 billion.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is down 2.02% in pre market trading at $29.60. T shares are down thi morning after the company posted a fourth quarter net loss of $6.68 billion or $1.12 per share. Revenue rose 3.6% to $32.5 billion. AT&T saw smartphone activations increase nearly 60% from the same quarter last year including 7.6 million iPhone activations. The company has a market cap of 179.02 billion.
Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is up 2.44% in pre market trading at $111.99. CAT shares are rising after the company released fourth quarter results. EPS came in at $2.32 per share, beating estimates by $0.55 per share. Revenue rose 34.6% year over year to $17.24 billion. CAT trades 7.9 million shares a day on average and has a market cap of 70.51 billion.
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