On Tuesday night lawmakers in Washington agreed to a near $1.1 trillion bill that will keep the majority of the government running through September. With just two days to go until the government was set to run out of funding, Democrats and Republicans were able to come up with a temporary solution which will keep the government functioning throughout the rest of the fiscal year. The bill is expected to be quickly pushed through both the House and the Senate in the coming days.
The bill will only fund Homeland Security through February, a measure that Republicans insisted on in order to give next year’s Republican-dominated Senate a chance to amend President Obama’s latest immigration reforms.
In other news around the markets:
- China’s new car sales in November fell to their lowest level in nearly two years, another signal that the nation’s economy is grinding to a halt. Sales grew just 4.7 percent from last year to 1.8 million cars, likely the product of waning domestic demand due to a deteriorating economic climate.
- Reports from the U.S. Senate out on Tuesday showed that the CIA misled the White House about its torture tactics following the September 11 attacks. The report revealed that that CIA interrogation practices were more brutal than the agency had let on, something that many believe is cause for the prosecution of the American officials responsible for the program.
- Crude oil prices continued on a downward trajectory on Wednesday as oversupply weighed. Due to a lack of global demand and declining prices, the U.S. Energy Information Administration lowered its 2015 domestic oil production growth forecast by around 100,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, some OPEC nations maintained their calls for a production cut in order to boost prices, saying the cartel may call for an emergency meeting ahead of its scheduled June gathering.
- Next week, Greece will hold its highly-anticipated presidential elections, in which policymakers will be forced to choose between a government aligned with the nation’s bailout plan, or one that wants to abandon it completely. Current Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his government are committed to adhering to EU mandates in order to continue Greece’s bailout program. On the other side is a radical leftist group that has promised to abandon the troika’s demands for budget cuts and exit the bailout program immediately. The vote could leave Greece without any further EU funding, something that many worry would tear down the nation’s fragile financial system.
Asian Markets
Asian markets were mixed; China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen composites rose 2.96 percent and 2.69 percent respectively, while Japan’s NIKKEI fell 2.25 percent. The KOSPI lost 1.29 percent, but the Hang Seng index rose 0.16 percent.
European Markets
European markets were up across the board; the FTSE rose 0.20 percent, the STOXX 600 gained 0.41 percent, the DAX rose 0.67 percent and the CAC 40 was up 0.36 percent.
Energy futures were lower; Brent futures lost 1.45 percent and WTI futures were down 1.79 percent. Gold and silver lost 0.13 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively, while industrial metals were mostly higher with the exception of Copper, which lost 0.80 percent. Aluminum was up 0.31 percent, zinc gained 0.14 percent and tin was up 0.44 percent.
The euro was steady near $1.24 at $1.2384 and gained 0.10 percent against the pound, but lost 0.32 percent against the yen. The dollar was also lower against the yen, down 0.39 percent. The greenback also fell 0.42 percent against the Australian dollar and 0.06 percent agains the franc.
Notable earnings released on Tuesday included:
- HD Supply Holdings Inc HDS reported third quarter EPS of $0.55 on revenue of $2.49 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.38 on revenue of $2.30 billion.
- AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported first quarter EPS of $7.27 on revenue of $2.26 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $6.29 on revenue of $2.09 billion.
- UTi Worldwide Inc. UTIW reported a third quarter loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $1.08 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.08 on revenue of $1.15 billion.
Stocks moving in the Premarket included:
- Carnival Corporation CCL was up 1.11 percent in premarket trade after rising 2.64 percent over the past five days.
- Transocean Ltd RIG fell 1.32 percent in premarket trade after losing 5.93 percent over the past week.
- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL was down 1.01 percent in premarket trade after gaining 3.17 percent over the past five days.
- Halliburton Company HAL was down 0.99 percent in premarket trade after rising 2.36 percent on Tuesday.
Notable releases expected on Wednesday include:
- Costco Wholesale Corporation COST is expected to report first quarter EPS of $1.09 on revenue of $26.92 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.96 on revenue of $25.02 billion.
- Casey's General Stores Inc CASY is expected to report second quarter EPS of $1.17 on revenue of $2.18 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.06 on revenue of $2.02 billion.
- Toll Brothers Inc TOL is expected to report fourth quarter EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $1.34 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.54 on revenue of $1.04 billion.
- The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. MW is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.87 on revenue of $912.43 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.90 on revenue of $648.89 million.
Economics
Notable economic releases expected on Wednesday include Japanese household confidence, French industrial production, the British trade balance and U.S. oil inventory data.
Tune into Benzinga’s pre-market info show with Dennis Dick and Joel Elconin here.
© 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.
