#PreMarket Primer: Thursday, January 16: Another Triple-Digit Day

Positive earnings propelled the major U.S. Indices higher yesterday and markets around the world are mixed this morning.

The Dow ended up nearly three-quarters of a percent to close at 16,481.94. The S&P gained about 0.5 percent to finish at 1,848.38, and the NASDAQ saw the largest gains of the day, 0.7 percent higher, to close at 4,214.88.

U.S. markets are trending lower this morning. The Dow is down about 19 points while the S&P is down about two. The NASDAQ is down two points in early trading.

Top Stories

AppleAAPL will refund at least $32.5 million to settle a dispute where the company billed U.S. customers for charges made by children without their parents’ consent.

Charter Communications CHTR has asked Comcast CMCSA to join it in a bid to buy out Time Warner Cable TWC

JC Penney JCP announced that it will close 33 stores and eliminate 2,000 jobs. The move will save the company about $65 million annually starting this year.

Asian Markets

Growing confidence in the global economic recovery propelled Asian indices higher Thursday but Japan reversed gains as profit-taking took over The Nikkei finished the day lower by about 0.4 percent to close at 15,747.20

The Shanghai composite was flat to close at 2,023.70 and the Hang Seng, up about 0.4 percent to close at 22,986.41.

European Markets

Despite strong performance by other world markets, European indices are mostly flat. The FTSE and DAX are flat and the CAC is up about 0.2 percent.

Commodities

Energy is mostly up while metals are lower. WTI is up about 0.4 percent at $94.53 while Brent is flat at $107.12. Natural Gas is up shapely—about two percent—to $4.426.

Gold is down about 0.1 percent at $1,237 and silver is down 0.7 percent at $19.995. Copper is down 0.5 percent to $3.34

Currencies

The Australian dollar fell to its lowest level since 2010 as a fall in unemployment sparked speculation of another interest rate cut. In this morning’s trading session, it’s 1.4 percent lower against the dollar at 0.878.  

The euro is slightly higher against the dollar at 1.3615 while the pound is 0.2 percent lower against the U.S. currency at 1.633. The dollar is currently about 0.1 percent higher against the yen at 104.72.

Pre-Market Movers

Hewlett-Packard HPQis up about one percent possibly on a Seeking Alpha article that said the stock has 50 percent upside.

Blackrock BLK is up about three percent as Chairman and CEO Larry Fink appeared on CNBC to talk about the company’s positive earnings.

Earnings

Bank of America BAC reported EPS of $0.29—ahead of the $0.26 consensus estimate. Revenue of $21.7 billion was higher than the $21.24 billion consensus estimate.

Notable earnings today include:

American Express AXP is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.25 per share on revenue of $8.55 billion.

Capital One COF reports Q4 earnings after the bell today. Analysts expect $1.55 per share on revenue of $5.46 billion.

Intel INTC is expected to report EPS of $0.52 per share on revenue of $13.72 billion.

Economics

At 8:30 a.m. ET the Consumer Price Index is released along with initial jobless claims. At 10:00 a.m., the Philadelphia Fed Survey reaches the markets.