Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand did well; Malaysia was weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the upside. Poland, France, Turkey, Germany, the UAE, Russia, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Saudi Arabia are up; Denmark and Portugal are down. Futures in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
Futures point to stocks opening on the upside, as investors await another crop of first-quarter earnings including Pepsi (NASDAQ:PEP), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). S&P and Nasdaq futures rise 0.2% each, while Dow futures edge up 0.1%. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slips 0.2% with miners dropping along with iron ore prices. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended its session essentially flat, while Shanghai rose after China’s GDP increased 6.4% in the first three months of the year.
U.S., Turkey deadlock over Russia missile dispute continues
The U.S. and Turkey have failed to break their impasse over Turkey’s plan to deploy a Russian air defense system the Pentagon says could jeopardize U.S. fighter aircraft including Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE:LMT) F-35, which Turkish manufacturers helped build. Turkish officials repeated that the deal with Russia has been signed and is final, while the U.S. has threatened to impose sanctions under legislation that allows the punishment of entities doing business with Russia, and to expel Turkey from the F-35 program. The first batch of Russian S-400 missiles may be delivered as early as June, leaving little time for the dispute to be resolved.
Qualcomm, Apple drop all litigation
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) jumped 6.8% in after-hours trading after it and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) agreed to dismiss all litigation worldwide in a settlement that involves Apple paying QCOM. The companies also reached a six-year license agreement, effective April 1, with two one-year option periods plus a multiyear chipset supply agreement. In a regulatory filing Qualcomm says it expects incremental EPS of about $2 as product shipments ramp up.
China steel production hits record in Q1
China churned out a record 231M tons of steel in Q1 spurred by consumption in the infrastructure sector due to government stimulus. The Q1 figure is up almost 10% from a year earlier, with production in March rising 10% to 80.3M tons.
T-Mobile CEO pushes back on report that DOJ opposes merger
T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) CEO John Legere says the Wall Street Journal report that its merger deal with Sprint (NYSE:S) likely won’t be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice is “simply untrue.” In a meeting earlier this month, Justice Department staff members laid out their concerns with the deal and questioned the companies’ arguments that the merger would produce important efficiencies, according to the WSJ report. T-Mobile US fell 4.2% in after-hours trading, while Sprint sank 8%.
Netflix Q2 streaming guidance on the light side
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Q1 EPS of 76 cents beat consensus by 19 cents and adjusted EBITDA of $538M topped estimates of $492M, but the streaming giant sees Q2 streaming adds of 5.0M, shy of the 5.4M consensus. Also, the company sees 2019 free cash flow deficit “modestly higher” at $3.5B on higher cash taxes due to its corporate structural change and additional investments in real estate and other infrastructure. Netflix still sees free cash flow improving in 2020 and each year afterwards.
IBM drops amid softer cloud growth in Q1
IBM (NYSE:IBM) fell 2.5% in after-hours action after Q1 revenue of $18.2B missed the consensus estimate by $330M, as overall revenue fell 5% from a year ago and cloud and cognitive software revenue slipped 2%. Q1 EPS of $2.25 topped consensus by a penny. IBM reaffirmed 2019 EPS guidance of at least 5% Y/Y and free cash flow of about $12B.
What else is happening…
Can Central Banks Still Be Effective? Contributor Kristina Hooper talks about the Fed, data dependency, Brexit.
French firms rally to reconstruct Notre Dame cathedral.
Venezuela’s Guaido to seek to annul $8.7B ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) award.
Roche (OTCQX:RHHBF) boosts forecast on cancer, MS drugs.
No change to Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) diesel pricing policy, energy minister says.
Smart & Final to be acquired by Apollo Global (NYSE:APO).
As contributor Acting Man writes, long-term stock market sentiment as lopsided as ever.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
IBM (IBM) -3.6% AH on mixed Q1 and slowing cloud growth.
Netflix (NFLX) -1.2% AH over Q2 subscriber outlook.
CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) +4.1% AH after huge efficiency gains.
United Continental (NASDAQ:UAL) +3.1% AH after profit beat, satisfying guidance.
Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ:MLNX) flat AH on Q1 beat.
Interactive Brokers (IEX:IBKR) flat AH on Q1 earnings beat and electronic brokerage revenue declines.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 International Trade
10:00 Wholesale Trade
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
12:30 PM Fed’s Bullard: U.S. Monetary and Economic Policy
12:30 PM Fed’s Harker: Economic Outlook
2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar