#PreMarket Primer: Tuesday, February 11: New Fed Chief Speaks

Investors as a whole didn’t want to make any big moves ahead of Fed Chief Janet Yellen’s testimony yesterday.

Monday, the Dow was up seven points, basically flat, to finish the day at 15,801.79 The S&P was up 0.2 percent to 1,799.84 and the NASDAQ was up about 0.5 percent to close at 4,148.17.

This morning, U.S. markets are moving higher in premarket trading. The Dow is indicated up about 70 points while the S&P is up about eight points. The NASDAQ is trending about 16 points higher.

In her first time before Congress, Yellen will speak to the House of Representatives at 10:00 AM today and the Senate on Thursday.

Top Stories

• The White House delays employer mandate for small businesses until 2016.
• Google GOOG signs deal with ComScore SCOR that allows advertisers to track the effectiveness of their campaign in near real time.
• Apple AAPL loses another battle to limit its court-appointed monitor stemming from the E-book antitrust trial.

Asian Markets

Asian markets were higher as they await Yellen’s testimony and Japan was closed for a public holiday. The Hang Seng was up nearly 1.8 percent to finish at 21,962.98.

The Shanghai Composite closed 0.8 percent higher at 2,103.67 and the Kospi was up about 0.5 percent on the day at 1,932.06.

European Markets

Europe is responding to the strong day in Asia as indices move shapely higher. The FTSE is about one percent higher at 6,658.19 and the DAX is 1.3 percent higher at 9,415.28. Finally, the CAC is one percent higher at 4,275.70.

Commodities

Commodities are higher with the exception of copper. WTI is up about 0.2 percent at $100.33 while Brent is up at $108.93. Natural gas is up 1.3 percent at $4.63 but continues its downward slide since reaching highs over $5.

Gold is up about 0.6 percent at $1,283.10 reaching a three-month high and silver is flat at $20.12. Copper is down about 0.1 percent at $3.22.

Currencies

The euro is 0.2 percent higher against the dollar at 1.367 and the dollar is about 0.2 percent stronger against the yen at 102.39.

The pound is 0.1 percent higher against the dollar at 1.642 and the Aussie dollar is at 0.902 against the dollar—up about 0.9 percent.

Pre-Market Movers

• Rackspace Hosting RAXis down nine percent after announcing corporate restructuring as its CEO announces his retirement after reporting earnings.
• Barclays BCS is down five percent after announcing that it will cut 12,000 jobs in response to falling profits.

Notable Earnings

Earnings reports from Monday:

• Sohu.com SOHU reported Q4 EPS of $0.12, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38. Revenue of $385 million beat the consensus estimate of $195.8 million.
• Hasbro HAS reported Q4 EPS of $1.12, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22. Revenue of $1.28 billion missed the consensus estimate of $1.3 billion.
• Rackspace Holdings RAX reported Q4 EPS of $0.14, in-line with the consensus estimate. Revenue of $408 million beat the consensus estimate of $404.56 million.

The following companies will report after the closing bell today:

• DaVita Healthcare Partners DVA is expected to report Q4 EPS $0.99 on revenue of $3.03 billion.
• The Andersons ANDE is expected to report Q4 EPS of $1.61 on revenue of $1.74 billion.
• Western Union WU is expected to report Q4 EPS of $0.32 on revenue of $1.43 billion.
• Fossil FOSL is expected to report Q4 EPS of $2.44 on revenue of $1.07 billion.

Economics

At 7:30 AM ET, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index reaches the market and Fed chief Janet Yellen testifies before Congress at 10:00 AM ET.