Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Indonesia fell 2.6%, followed by Australia (down 1.7%) and Taiwan (down 1%). India, Malaysia and New Zealand were also weak. Europe is currently mostly down. Stockholm and Norway are down more than 1%; Amsterdam, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are also weak. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
VIDEO: State of the Market
The dollar is down. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down.
Today is Fed Day. It’s where the Fed targets the overnight rate and the discount rate and issues a statement that lays out their stance on the economy and what they may do going forward should things get better/worse going forward.
Nobody expects the Fed to change rates now, and there seems to be a growing consensus they won’t do anything in June. The target now is September with some Fed watchers saying yes and others not expecting anything until 2016. With more and more people expecting a rate increase to be delayed, there is a chance of a negative surprise. If the Fed hints June may see the first raise, the market is not likely to react positively.
Yesterday afternoon Twitter leaked its earnings. The stock dropped 18% and is down another 3% today in premarket trading. The company is the absolute best in the world at what they do (they’re the only in the world)…they’re ubiquitous (everyone uses their Twitter name as an identification tag)…yet they aren’t growing very fast and they can’t figure out how to make money.
Before today’s open Stratsys (SSYS), a leader in the 3D printing space, issued a warning and is down almost 20%.
But not all companies are taking big hits. GoPro (GPRO) is up 12% after beating top and bottom line numbers and issuing a strong forecast for Q2.
Back to the Fed. I’m not expecting fireworks today. Since the consensus is June is off the table, the Fed doesn’t have its back against the wall any more. They don’t have to do anything. They can do nothing and just continue monitoring the situation. They stated last meeting that just because they removed the word “patient” from their statement doesn’t mean they’re going to be impatient.
I’m warming up to gold and silver more than before. Oil remains in a little consolidation pattern. I’m not sure how these groups tie into the Fed and interest rates. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Humana (HUM +0.55%) reported Q1 EPS of $2.47, below consensus of $2.55.
U.S. Steel (X +1.98%) slid 7% in after-hours trading after it reported an unexpected Q1 adjusted EPS loss of -7 cents, well below consensus of a 12 cent profit.
Aflac (AFL +0.62%) reported Q1 EPS with-items of $1.51, below consensus of $1.54.
Willis Group (WSH +0.53%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.26, weaker than consensus of $1.39.
Owens-Illinois (OI +2.36%) reported Q1 EPS of 44 cents, above consensus of 42 cents, but Q1 revenue of $1.40 billion was below consensus of $1.42 billion.
Panera Bread (PNRA +0.42%) reported Q1 EPS ex-items of $1.41, below consensus of $1.44.
Tempur Sealy (TPX +0.43%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 55 cents, higher than consensus of 48 cents.
Western Digital (WDC -1.01%) reported Q3 EPS of $1.87, less than consensus of $1.89.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN +1.28%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 70 cents, well below consensus of $1.33.
Kraft Foods (KRFT +0.01%) reported Q1 un-adjusted EPS of 72 cents, weaker than consensus of 81 cents.
Smart & Final Stores (SFS +0.90%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of 10 cents, better than consensus of 9 cents.
GoPro (GPRO +4.05%) jumped 11% in after-hours trading after it reported Q1 EPS of 24 cents, above consensus of 18 cents.
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD +2.54%) reported Q1 EPS of $1.52, weaker than consensus of $1.63.
Edison International (EIX +1.07%) reported Q1 EPS of 90 cents, higher than consensus of 79 cents.
Akamai (AKAM -1.26%) reported Q1 EPS of 61 cents, right on consensus, and Q1 revenue of $527 million was slightly ahead of consensus at $526.18 million.
Express Scripts (ESRX +0.76%) reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.10, right on conensus $1.10, although Q1 revenue of $24.90 billion was better than consensus of $24.34 billion.
Total System (TSS +0.42%) reported Q1 adjusted continuing operating EPS of 54 cents, better than consensus of 46 cents.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s economic calendar:
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 GDP Q1
10:00 Pending Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Results of $15B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $29B, 7-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM FOMC Announcement
Notable earnings before today’s open: ABB, ACCO, ADT, AME, AMED, ANTM, AVY, BC, BEN, BGCP, BOKF, CBG, CCJ, CFR, CRI, CVE, DHX, DX, DXYN, EDR, ETN, EVER, EXC, FCAU, FCH, FDML, FI, FUN, GD, GEL, GIB, GRMN, GRUB, GT, HCBK, HERO, HES, HLT, HOT, HUM, ICON, IDCC, IP, ISSI, LFUS, LINE, LL, LVLT, MA, MDLZ, MTOR, MWV, NEE, NOC, NSC, NYCB, OCR, PCG, PX, Q, RES, ROL, SAIA, SAVE, SLAB, SLGN, SNCR, SO, SPIL, SPR, SPW, TRI, TWX, UMC, VRX, WEX, WM, WOOF
Notable earnings after today’s close: AEL, AFFX, AR, ARII, ARRS, ASGN, ASH, ATRC, ATW, AVG, AXS, BIDU, BLKB, BVN, CACI, CAVM, CBT, CHMT, CMO, CMPR, CNO, CNW, COHR, CRL, CSGP, CSII, CW, CWT, DOX, DRE, DXCM, DYAX, ECOL, ELGX, EQIX, EQY, ES, ESV, EXL, EXR, FLEX, FOE, FORM, FORR, GLUU, HOLX, HOS, HY, IPCM, ISIL, KAMN, KEG, KEX, KRA, LNC, LOCK, LOPE, LXRX, MAA, MAC, MANT, MAR, MDAS, MEOH, MEP, MMLP, MTGE, MTW, MUR, NE, NSR, NXPI, O, OGS, OIS, PDM, PPC, PRXL, PTC, QEP, QUIK, RKT, ROG, RRTS, SAM, SCI, SFLY, SGI, SPOK, SPRT, SSS, STAA, STR, SU, TAL, TCO, TEX, TILE, TTEK, TTMI, TX, UNM, VAR, VRTX, WLL, WMB, WMGI, WTS, XL, YELP
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers