US futures pushing higher at this hour after yesterday’s market digested last week’s gains and ahead of a plethora of data, with CPI, PMI and new-home sales ahead, as well as a speech by St. Louis Fed President Bullard. The futures are profiting by overnight data showing that German PMI jumped to a month high and business activity in the eurozone hit a 46-month high. These reports helped offset a very negative report on Chinese factory activity, which showed a drop to an 11-month low.
ON THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:
- 6AM: Fed Bullard speech from London: The Future of International Monetary Policy and It’s Impact on the Global Economic Recovery
- 8:30AM: Consumer Price Index for Feb: expectation +0.2%, after a drop of 0.7% in January
- 8:55AM: Redbook Chain Store Sales: expectation 0.1%
- 9AM: FHFA House Price Index
- 9:45AM: PMI Manufacturing Index Flash
- 10AM: New Home Sales: expectation 455K, down from previous 481K
- 10AM: Richmond Fed Manufacturing
- 1PM: Results of $26B, 2 Year Note Auction
EARNINGS:
- MKC earnings: FQ1 EPS of $0.70 beats by $0.06.Revenue of $1.01B (+1.7% Y/Y) beats by $24.88M : FY15 reaffirmes its expected constant currency growth rate for sales, adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings per share : sees FY15 adjusted EPS $3.44-$3.51, consensus $3.53
- GIII earnings:Q4 EPS of $0.98 beats by $0.15.Revenue of $514.32M (+8.8% Y/Y) misses by $14.01M:sees Q1 EPS 5c-15c, consensus 14c :sees Q1 EPS 5c-15c, consensus 14c: sees FY16 EPS $5.05-$5.25, consensus $5.16:
- SONS: Sonus slashes guidance, looks for cost cuts: Q1 revenue is now expected to be $47M-$50M vs. previous guidance of $74M
NEWS:
- AMZN:Amazon’s Twitch unit releases announcement that its website for streaming videogame play was likely hacked, and users’ account and personal information may have been compromised
- MS: GOOG: Morgan Stanley CFO leaving company for position as CFO at Google
- ROST: announces 2 for 1 stock split
- FLR: Fluor announces contract by TianREC to provide detailed design services and technical support for a new polysilicon plant in Yulin, China
- LINE: Quantum Energy Partners agrees to commit an initial $1B in equity capital to form a strategic partnership with Linn to fund oil and gas acquisitions
- MRK:Phase 3 KEYNOTE-006 study met co-primary endpoints, will be stopped early
- FCX: cuts dividend to 5c/share from 31.25c
- LHA: Germanwings jet crashes in the French Alps with 158 on board
- ARIA: ARIAD granted approval of Iclusig in Israel
- JEC: Jacobs Engineering announces contract for Network Rail link to Heathrow
- OCN: receives deficiency letter from NYSE
- CELG: UBS out positive on Celgene
- GILD: Bernstein out positive on Gilead after pullback
- BMY: Bristol-Myers granted exclusive license from Novo Nordisk for research
- CCE: added to US #1 List at BofA/Merrill
- FB: Facebook May Host News Sites’ Content, reports The NY Times
ANALYST RATINGS CHANGES:
upgrades:
- CMI: upgrade: neutral to outperform: Baird: pt raised from $154 to $166
- KMB: upgrade: buy to overweight: Wells Fargo: pt raised from $117 to $120
- EL: upgrade; buy to outperform: Wells Fargo: pt raised to $90-92 range
downgrades:
- PGR: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $28
initiation:
- LB: initiated: buy: Topeka: $106
- WWAV: initiated: buy: Argus: $49
- FIVE: initiated: buy: Buckingham: $39
- PAY: initiated: outperform: BMO Capital: $42
price target change:
- NFLX: pt raised from $400 to $450: Barclays
- NLFX: pt raised from $450 to $500: Cantor
- WWAV: pt raised from $40 to $50: Oppenheimer
- HUM: pt raised from $167 to $193: Oppenheimer
- NKE: pt raised from $110 to $116: Argus
- BA: pt raised from $165 to $185: Jefferies
- QSR: pt raised from $44 to $45: Piper (“believes the stock can rise 50% in less than 5 years”)
- CRI: pt raised from $100 to $107: Citigroup
- MEIP: pt cut from $14 to $7: Cantor
- DO: pt cut from $40 to $30: FBR Capital
- ESV: pt cut from $45 to $25: FBR Capital
- RDC: pt cut from $36 to $30: FBR Capital