Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Australia dropped 0.8%; Japan and South Korea dropped 0.7%. There were no big winners. Europe is currently mostly up. Norway is up 1%, Greece 0.8% and Austria and the Czech republic 0.6%. Belgium is down 0.9%. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
The dollar is flat. Oil and copper are up slightly. Gold and silver are up.
I’m not sure what the Fed can say in today’s statement to influence Wall St. Rates are already at a rock-bottom level, and they’re not going higher for a long time. They’ve already announced QE unlimited, so other than accelerating their bond purchase plan, there’s not much else they can do there either. The last Fed meeting was big. This one seems more like a formality.
Lots of earnings are out. Let’s review the main ones.
Boeing (BA) beat expectations…stock is up 3%.
AT&T (T) missed expectations by a small amount, but it’s earnings increased from a year earlier. The stock is up about 1%.
Delta’s (DAL) Q3 profit surged but it was mostly because of their fuel contracts. The stock is down 1.5%.
Dow Chemical (DOW) says it’s cutting 5% of its workforce (2,400 jobs) and is shuttering 20 plants. The stock is up 5.6% in premarket trading.
Facebook (FB) did well with earnings…the stock is up a whopping 21% before the open.
Netflix (NFLX) beat on earnings expectations but didn’t add as many new customers as they forecasted, and they’re likely to miss their year-end target. The stock is down 16.6%.
Eli Lilly (LLY) – income rose but revenue dropped…stock is down 1.8%.
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY) revenue dropped 30% and posted a Q3 loss…stock is down 2.2%.
Regeneron (RGEN) beat expectations…stock is up 3.6%.
RF Micro Devices (RFMD) posted a loss but profit and revenue were stronger than expected…stock is up 13.5%.
Zynga (ZNGA) is up 5% in premarket trading…they announced layoffs.
SAP (SAP) is up 3.3%…sales rose and management is optimistic.
InvenSense’s (IIVN) founder, Chairman and CEO is stepping down…stock is down 12%.
Tempur-Pedic (TPX) is down 19%…the company swung to a Q3 loss.
United Therapeutics (UTHR) is down 10.7%…they failed to get FDA approval for one of their new applications.
Briefly the market will focus on the Fed, but then it’s back to earnings which are much more important right now. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers