Benzinga Market Primer: Wednesday May 22

The markets reached another record high Tuesday as the Dow added 50 points and the S&P, nearly 3 points. All eyes will be on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony at 10:00 am EST today.

Morning News

• S&P 500 futures are up 1.75 points to 1667.25.
• The EUR/USD was up at 0.19 percent to 1.293.
• German 10-year government bond yields rose 1 basis point to 1.368 percent.
• Italian 10-year government bond yields rose 2 basis points to 3.87 percent.
• Gold was up 0.57 percent to $1,385.80 per ounce.
• Disney DIS owned ESPN announced it will cut 300 to 400 jobs or 4 to 6 percent of its workforce.
• JPMorgan Chase JPM voted not to split the chairman and CEO roles.
• Oklahoma tornado listed as one of the top five costliest in history.

Asian Markets

The Nikkei soared as the Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged. Bond yields were up 0.896 percent on the news and the Nikkei sat at 15627.26, up 1.6 percent.

Other markets were mostly down. The Kopsi was up 0.64 percent, the Shanghai composite was down 0.21 percent, and the ASX 200, the Australian index, was down 0.28 percent.

European Markets

European markets are lower this morning. The Spanish Ibex Index was down 0.61 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index was flat. Meanwhile, the German DAX was down 0.27 percent and the French CAC 40 shed 0.39 percent while the U.K. market was down 0.25 percent.

Commodities

Oil was sharply lower overnight and metals were higher. WTI Crude futures fell 0.53 percent to $95.67 per barrel while Brent Crude futures fell 0.76 percent to $103.12 per barrel. Copper futures were up 1.09 percent to $338.00 and silver futures recovered from yesterday’s selloff up 0.51 percent to $22.657 per ounce.

Corn prices fell to multi-week lows on reports that farmers are planting at a record pace after a late start to the planting season. Corn for July delivery sat at $6.40 per bushel.

Currencies

The Japanese Yen showed continued weakness against the dollar, falling to 102.92—a loss of 0.45 percent following the BOJ monetary policy announcements. The GBP/USD was down fractionally at 1.5086, and the EUR/USD was mostly unchanged 1.293.

Earnings Reported Tuesday

• Auto ZoneAZO reported fiscal Q3 EPS of $7.27 versus consensus of $7.23. Revenues were $2.21 billion, slightly lower than analyst consensus of $2.22 billion.
• Best BuyBBY reported first quarter EPS of $0.32 versus analyst consensus of $0.25. The company missed on revenue—reporting $9.38 billion versus estimates of $10.65 billion.
• Home DepotHD reported first quarter EPS of $0.83 versus consensus of $0.75. Revenue came in at $19.1 billion. Analysts expected $18.67 billion.
• IntuitINTU reported fiscal Q3 EPS of $2.97 versus consensus of $2.93. Revenues were in line at $2.18 billion.

Wednesday’s Earnings

• Hewlett-PackardHPQ is expected to report EPS of $0.81 with revenues of $28.51 billion.
• LowesLOW is expected to report EPS of $0.51 with revenues of $13.49 billion
• Limited BrandsLTD is expected to report EPS of $0.46 with revenues of $2.25 billion.
• StaplesSPLS is expected to report EPS of $0.27 with revenues of $5.93 billion.
• Target TGT is expected to report EPS of $0.86 on revenues of $16.85 billion

Pre-Market Movers

Investors are hesitant to make big bets ahead of Bernanke’s testimony this morning but here are stocks moving afterhours.

• Newmont MiningNEM is up 0.97 percent as gold remains volatile.
• Hewlett-Packard is up 0.62 percent ahead of earnings.
• Carnival CorpCCL is down 3.61 percent after lowering guidance.
• Wells FargoWFC is up 0.54 percent on overall sector strength.

Economics

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak at 10:00 am EST where he is expected to give dovish comments to Congress and quash rumors that the Fed is ready to cut back QE.

Also on the calendar are existing home sales at 10:00 am EST and the release of the FOMC minutes at 2:00 pm EST.

Have a great day and remember that one of the best ways to learn about your holdings is to listen to their conference calls.