Benzinga Market Primer: Friday, March 1

Futures Down after China PMI, Sequester

U.S. equity futures were down in the pre-market after Chinese PMI came in at 50.10 Thursday night, worse than the 50.2 that was expected. The fiscal sequestration is also set to go into effect today.

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In other news around the markets:

• Italian PMI came in below expectations at 45.8; expectations were for 47.60.


• French PMI was reported better than expected at 43.9; expectations were for 43.6.


• German PMI beat expectations at 50.3, more than the 50.1 that economists were anticipating.


• S&P 500 futures down about 8.50 points at 1504.75..


• The EUR/USD was lower at 1.3002.

Asian Markets

Asian shares were generally lower following the disappointing Chinese PMI report. The Hong Kong Hang Seng slipped 0.61%, while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.17%. The exception was Japan's Nikkei 225, which rallied 0.41%.

European Markets

European shares were broadly lower. The FTSE shed about 0.73%, while the DAX fell 1.07%.

Commodities

Commodities largely down. Gold fell 0.59% to trade at $1568.80, while silver shed a more dramatic 1.25% to trade at $28.03.Crude oil dropped 1.68% to $90.50 and natural gas slummped 0.40% to trade at $3.4720. Copper and palladium were most severely hit. Copper fell 2.03% while palladium shed 2.17%.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar showed relative strength on Friday, with the dollar index rallying 0.44% to 82.36. The GBP/USD and EUR/USD were both big losers, falling 0.82% and 0.44%, respectively. At the same time, the USD/CHF rose 0.56% and EUR/GBP added 0.35%.

Pre-Market Movers

Stocks moving in the pre-market included:

• Groupon GRPN shares were up nearly 5% after CEO Andrew Mason was fired Thursday night.


• Intuitive Surgical ISRG shares rallied over 7% in the pre-market after falling over 11% Thursday. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the stock to a Buy rating.


• Best Buy BBY shares rallied over 2% after reporting better than expected earnings.


• Salesforce CRM shares were up over 4% after posting earnings Thursday night.

Economics

On the economics calendar Friday, investors will get Personal Income and Personal Spending at 8:30am. At 9am, the U.S. manufacturing PMI will be released. At 9:55am, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment indicator will be reported. Then, at 10am, ISM Manufacturing is set to be released.

Good luck and good trading.