The Market In 5 Minutes: You're Not Your Job

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

The Bank of Japan kept its interest rates unchanged in a surprise move. According to Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz's chief economic advisor, the central bank is not only caught in a trap, but it has indeed lost policy credibility. "Whatever they do, they get it wrong. They ended up doing too much last time, and they suffered a currency appreciation. They did nothing this time, and they got the same outcome."

Asian stocks were mostly lower following Thursday's tumble in reaction to the Bank of Japan standing pat on its stimulus program. Japanese stocks were closed for a national holiday but still close the week lower by more than 5 percent. Meanwhile, the price of oil hit a fresh 2016 high due to a weakened U.S. dollar and declining production in the U.S. The price of a barrel of crude oil was trading around $46.54 while Brent crude futures were trading at $48.40.

Gold and silver have been strong performers so far in 2016 after several years of slumping prices. A new Reuters poll of 30 analysts indicates experts believe the 2016 rally has legs. The average 2016 price target for gold among the analysts polled was $1,209/oz, up from $1,118/oz in a similar poll taken in January. Looking ahead to 2017, analysts expect gold to average $1,300/oz, implying that the early 2016 rally still has some upside remaining.

BZ News Desk Focus

Amazon AMZN Q1 EPS of $1.07 and revenue of $29.13 billion – up 28.2 percent year-over-year - both beat the Street’s expectation by $0.49 and $1.15 billion. The stock was up more than 11 percent at $674 in the pre-market session.

LinkedIn LNKD was also up more than 7 percent at $122.94 following its strong earnings and guidance. The stock was downgraded by 10 analysts following February's earnings release.

We just announced the categories and finalists for the second annual Benzinga Fintech Awards! Of the 223 companies who took part in the social media competition, 131 have advanced as finalists. Benzinga has identified a panel of judges with extensive experience in Fintech to determine the winners. The event will be held at Tribeca Three Sixty in New York City on May 24.

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Sell-Side Themes

Bank of America weighed in on the auto industry, now that the big players have reported their latest earnings results. The firm downgraded Ford F and Fiat Chrysler FCAU, while maintaining a Buy rating on General Motors GM.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Oshkosh OSK raised to Neutral at Bank of America.

Baidu BIDU upgraded to Buy at Brean Capital.

Starz STRZA raised to Buy at Pivotal Research.

Insulet PODD upgraded to Outperform at Blair.

Deutsche Bank DB cut to Underperform at KBW.

Western Digital WDC downgraded to Neutral at Baird.

GNC Holdings GNC cut to Neutral at Goldman.

Avnet AVT downgraded from Buy to Hold at Brean Capital.

Level 3 LVLT cut to Neutral at Bank of America.

Deal Talk

Rovi ROVI announced it has entered into an agreement to fully acquire TiVo TIVO in a transaction that values the company at $1.1 billion, or $10.70 per share. Rovi noted the acquisition will create a "$3 billion entertainment technology leader" as it combines two "of the industry's most influential players."

In The News

One of these people could be the next U.S. Treasury Secretary: Can you hang with the G-7 one minute, a small-town chamber of commerce the next?

Iran asked United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to convince the United States to stop violating state immunity after the top U.S. court ruled that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be paid to American victims of attacks blamed on Tehran.

"Islamic State may exult in online portrayals of jihadis sweeping victoriously across Iraqi battlefields," Reuters says, "but a camera recovered from the helmet of a dead fighter offers a contrasting picture of chaos and panic in a battle with Kurdish peshmerga. A fighter is shown in footage seized by Peshmerga firing from one of three Islamic State armored cars advancing across a barren plain towards a Kurdish position. His rifle slips and he fires off a shot inside the vehicle."

Blogosphere

A Bloomberg report claims to have "unmkased" the people behind popular finance website, ZeroHedge. However, "Tyler Durden" himself posted a rebuttal of his own.

Trending

Cal QB Jared Goff was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 #NFLDraft, staying in his newly-returned hometown Los Angles Rams. Ohio State had five players selected among the draft's first 31 picks.