Although several Asian nations including China and India are hoping that the rebound in both the US and Europe will help their own economies get back on track, data out on Thursday showed that Western demand is playing less of a role in Asia.
Purchasing Managers' data out on Thursday showed that the Chinese manufacturing sector was still struggling despite the recent pick up in the US. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index data for China fell to 50.5 in December, a three month low and just 0.5 above the 50 point mark which separates contraction from expansion.
In other news around the markets:
- After more than a year of negotiation, Fiat SpA penned a $4.35 billion deal to take full control of Chrysler Group LLC on Wednesday. Fiat has suffered difficult losses in Europe and lost important market share which will be difficult to regain, even with the ability to share cash and technology with Chrysler.
- Samsung lost over $8 billion dollars in its market value after markets opened for the first time in 2014. Investors have been ridding their portfolios of the stock as expectations of the company's earnings outlook, due on Tuesday, are looking dim. Brokerages have been consistently downgrading the stock, citing a lack of clarity about the company's future profit drivers.
- The disappearing messaging service Snapchat suffered a public leak of users' account information on Tuesday night. The service, which bases its reputation on the privacy of its users was hacked by a group called “Lightcontact” which posted a list of the service's usernames and phone numbers to an internet website.
- Eurozone PMI data showed that the region's manufacturing sector was picking up, but again France remained a dark spot. Both Germany and Italy led the way for a strong end to 2013 with the eurozone's PMI score up to 52.7 in December from 51.6 in November. French manufacturing PMI slipped to a seven month low of 47.0, highlighting concerns that the eurozone's recovery is uneven.
Asian markets were mixed, the Japanese NIKKEI was up 0.69 percent and Australia's ASX 200 rose 0.29 percent. However China's Shanghai composite lost 0.31 percent and the South Korean KOSPI fell 2.19 percent.
European Markets
European markets were lower, the UK's FTSE was down 0.43 percent and the eurozone's STOXX 600 lost 0.44 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.61 percent and France's CAC 40 lost 0.87 percent.
Energy futures were higher, Brent futures gained 0.24 percent and WTI futures were up 0.29 percent. Gold gained 1.56 percent and silver was up 3.15 percent. Industrial metals were mostly lower with zinc posting the largest losses, down 1.49 percent.
The euro remained above $1.37 while the pound lost 0.08 percent against the dollar. The dollar gained 0.08 percent against the yen and was unchanged against the Australian dollar.
Stocks moving in the Premarket included:
- Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE: NEM) gained 2.95 percent in premarket trade after rising 0.44 percent on Tuesday.
- Verizon Communications VZ rose 1.75 percent in premarket trade after slipping 0.02 percent on Tuesday.
- National Oilwell Varco Inc. NOV was up 1.09 percent in premarket trade after rising 1.27 percent over the past five days.
- General Electric GE fell 0.43 percent in premarket trade after gaining 1.52 percent over the past week.
- JP Morgan Chase and Co JPM fell 0.33 percent in premarket trade after rising 0.91 percent on Tuesday.
Notable earnings releases expected on Thursday include:
- Landec Corporation (NASDAQ: LNDC) is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $124.23 million, compared to last year's EPS of $0.34 on revenue of $114.65 million.
- Resources Connection, Inc. RECN is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $139.37 million, compared to last year's EPS of $0.14 on revenue of $141.20 million.
Economics
Thursday's economic calendar is filled with PMI data including Canadian manufacturing PMI, US manufacturing PMI, British manufacturing PMI, eurozone manufacturing PMI, Indian manufacturing PMI and Chinese manufacturing PMI.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Date | ticker | name | Actual EPS | EPS Surprise | Actual Rev | Rev Surprise |
|---|
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
