By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
AOL, PepsiCo to report ahead of the bell
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- With a light data calendar and a crucial
meeting on Greece's future ahead, investors appeared more wary than
ever on Wednesday, keeping U.S. stock futures pinned to the flat
line.
The Federal budget will come later, while early on will see
another batch of earnings as the season winds down, with AOL Inc.
and PepsiCo Inc. on the list.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH5) slipped 16
points to 17,777, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPH5)
eased 1.3 points to 2,060.90. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index
(NDH5) rose 1.25 points to 4,277.25.
There were no signs of the rally that pushed Wall Street higher
at the close on Tuesday, as investors lapped up headlines on
Greece, on whether the economically battered nation would reach a
deal to avert debt default. The S&P 500 index (SPX) managed a
1.1% gain, while tech stocks scored a 1.3% rise, boosted by shares
of Apple Inc. (AAPL).
Rumors that Greece could get a six-month extension to its
bailout program were quashed on Tuesday by German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schäuble. Greece's current bailout plan expires on Feb.
28, and some fear it will run out of money before then. If a deal
isn't struck Wednesday, then a summit of European Union leaders on
Thursday could offer up the chance for more high-level
negotiations, keeping markets on tenterhooks in the interim.
"Commentators generally seem to believe that the Greek stance in
the talks is unworkable, so that the risk of outright disaster is
still growing, but markets are priced for some kind of
stopgap-funding deal for Greece, which allows the ECB to continue
financing Greek banks and lets talks continue," said Kit Juckes, a
macro strategist at Société Générale, in a note.
Bottom line is earnings: While markets are likely to jump or
drop on Greece headlines, Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG,
said that investors should remember stocks have also been here
before.
Thinking beyond Greece, he told clients in a note that
"incredibly poor guidance" from the S&P companies that have
reported so far are keeping stocks from progressing. "Almost all
companies that are providing guidance are guiding negatively,
suggesting currencies are going to hit growth by a few percentage
points," he said.
Another factor for stocks is the recent, but sharp, reversal in
bond yields, coming as rate-hike forecasts have been dragged
forward. "As we've been saying for several quarters, equity-market
rallies almost always pause, and often decline, when yields back
up," said Greenhaus.
On the economic front, Moody's Investors Service said lower oil
prices won't be a boost for the global economy over the next two
years, due to headwinds from growth slowdowns in the eurozone,
China, Japan and Russia. However, the U.S. economy will benefit, it
said.
The Federal budget for January will be released at 2 p.m.
Eastern Time. Before then, Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard
Fisher will speak on monetary policy to the Economic Club of New
York at 8 a.m. Eastern.
Stocks to watch: Along with AOL(AOL) and PepsiCo(PEP)(PEP), Time
Warner Inc.(TWX) , Whole Foods Market Inc.(WFM) and CBS Corp. (CBS)
will report before the open.
Tesla Motors Inc.(TSLA) will report after the closing bell,
along with Baidu Inc. (BIDU) and Cisco Systems Inc.(CSCO).
Pier 1 Imports Inc. (PIR) was set to get crushed at the open,
after the company cut its earnings-per-share outlook for fiscal
2015 on Tuesday evening. Shares sank 24% on back of that news, and
were down another 30% in thin premarket trading.
Shares of First Solar Inc.(FSLR) are up 3.6% in premarket, after
the company said late Tuesday that Apple has committed $848 million
in a power-purchase agreement.
And U.S-listed shares of ARM Holdings PLC(ARMHY) rose nearly 4%
in premarket after the company posted upbeat results. The U.K.
microchip designer, which counts Apple among its customers, said it
sees revenue up 10% for the first quarter, which should reflect
strong sales of Apple's iPhone 6.
Other markets: European stocks failed to find a footing in early
trade, with Greek stocks off another 3.5% as the wait for news out
of the emergency meeting of European finance ministers continued.
The dollar was mostly flat across the board, and gold prices (GCH5)
were slightly higher. Crude-oil prices (CLH5) traded largely flat
ahead of supply data from the Energy Information Administration
Agency.
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