The anticipation over the Fed minutes was overdone as the markets read the statement as being a non-event. The minutes reaffirmed that committee members were still proceeding with caution and there is no preset timeline.
In the wake of the minutes the Dow was down about 0.4 percent at 16,362.74. The S&P was nearly flat losing 0.02 percent to close at 1,837.49, and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 percent to close at 4,165.81.
U.S. markets are up in premarket trading this morning. The Dow is up about 72 points lower while the S&P is up about seven.
Top Stories
The ADP jobs report beat forecasts coming in at 238,000. Wall Street was expect 205,000.
Macy’sM announced that it was closing five stores and cutting 2,500 jobs. The market bid the stock up after the company announced that holiday same-store sales rose 3.6 percent year over year.
Asian Markets
Asian markets were mostly lower Thursday after China’s annual consumer inflation hit a seven-month low of 2.5 percent in December. The Nikkei was down nearly 1.5 percent to end the day at 15,880.33.
The Shanghai composite was down about one percent to close at 2027.62 and the Hang Seng, down about one percent to close at 22787.33
European Markets
Cautious trading is the story in Europe as investors wait for economic data for the ECB and BoE. The FTSE and the CAC are up about 0.3 percent. The DAX is up about one-half of a percent.
Commodities
Energy and metals are mostly higher with natural gas seeing some profit taking after gains from the recent cold snap in the United States.
WTI is up 0.5 percent at $92.77 per barrel and Brent is up 0.6 percent to $107.83. Natural gas is down about one percent to $4.16.
Gold and silver are trading around the flat line at $1,226.50 and $19.55 per ounce respectively and copper is down nearly one percent at $3.31.
Currencies
The euro is gaining back some of the ground it conceded to the dollar in recent days as Europe gears up for economic data. The euro is up about 0.3 percent against the dollar while the pound is flat against the dollar. The Japanese yen sits at 104.96 against the dollar—up about 0.1 percent.
Pre-Market Movers
Macy’s M is up about five percent after saying it would cut 2,500 jobs and investors continue to bid the stock higher after better than expected same store sales.
Bed Bath & Beyond BBY fell more than eight percent after the company reported disappointing earnings and same store sales were lower than expected.
Earnings
Monsanto MON reported EPS of $0.67, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64. Revenue of $3.14 billion beat consensus of $3.08 billion
Constellation Brands STZ reported EPS of $1.10, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91. Revenue of $1.44 billion came in ahead of the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion.
Alcoa AA will report fourth-quarter earnings after the bell today. Analysts are looking for EPS of $0.05 and revenues of $5.43 billion.
Economics
Weekly jobless claims are what U.S. investors are watching today at 8:30 am with all eyes focused on tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls. Also out today, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45 am and the EIA Natural Gas Report at 10:30 am.
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