Dow -0.45% S&P -0.30% Nasdaq -0.49% Russell -0.46% VIX @ 13.34 (-4.10%)
The stock market capped a quiet week with a subdued Friday session. However, it is worth noting that the range-bound week followed sharp gains registered earlier this month. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% on Friday to narrow its February gain to 5.5% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%) underperformed today, but climbed 7.1% since the end of January. Indices spenbt most of Session near their flat line, before some profit taking on the last hour an half. Consumer staples rallied behind Coca-Cola (KO 43.30, +0.84) and Monster Beverage (MNST 141.12, +16.38) after the latter reported better than expected results...The technology sector (-0.5%) finished the day at the bottom of the leaderboard, but still added 7.9% for the month. Similar to the sector, the top-weighted component—Apple (AAPL 128.48, -1.94)—endured some profit taking following a big run in February. Shares of AAPL fell 1.5% today, but still ended the month higher by 9.7%....China central bank PBoC cut interest rates by 25bps over the weekend. Central bank reiterated prudent monetary policy and expressed to create a neutral appropriate monetary and financial environment for economy. PBoC reiterated to be more appropriate on monetary policy, and to use comprehensive monetary tools to fine-tune economy. China also released Feb Manufacturing PMI, slightly better than consensus. Later in the evening, HSBC released China Feb final Manufacturing PMI, revised the final figure much higher to 50.7 from flash reading of 50.1. China think tank State Information Center (SIC) also forecast China Q1 GDP growth at about 7%. Shanghai equity market, despite positive news over the weekend, traded only slightly higher by 0.3% during the morning session. Japan released its 4th quarter capital spending figure, Y/Y at 2.8%, fell short of 4.1% consensus. USD/JPY little changed after the data, but moved generally higher to just below ¥120 handle during today's session, on overall US Dollar's strength. We also saw a slightly better Markit/JMMA Manufacturing final PMI data of 51.6 than flash reading of 51.5, which marked 9th consecutive expansion for Japan
Nikkei +0.15% Hang Seng +0.2% Shanghai +0.68%
RUB $61.95 WTI $49.38 (-0.76%) EURCHF 1.0666
EUR$ 1.1173 S&P +0.11% EuroStoxx +0.14% Dax+0.10% SMI +0.42%
Macro :
- Austria Cuts Off Heta Support, Sees Creditor Bail-in
- HSBC China Feb. Manufacturing PMI 50.7; Est. 50.1
- Russia May Boost Car Rebate Program by 10B Rubles: Interfax
- Negative Rates Not Impossible in Norway, Handelsbanken Says
Keep an eye on :
- AERL LN : AG CEO to hold meetings with Irish government, unions in attempt to salvage Aer Lingus takeover
- AIR FP : Airbus to Keep A380, CEO Tom Enders Tells Frankfurter Allgemeine
- ALU FP : Alcatel to Be Profitable, Cash-Generating in 18 Months: Echos
- AR4 GY : Aurelius 2014 Rev. Up 5%, Ebitda More Than Doubles; Raises Div.
- AZN LN : AstraZeneca Pressured to Link Bonuses to Pfizer Defense: Times
- BKIA SM : Bankia 2014 Net Rises 83% From Year Earlier to EU747M
- EN FP : Bouygues Denies Reports That CEO Martin Bouygues Has Died
- EN FP : SFR makes EUR 7.5bn offer for Bouygues Telecom, discussions ongoing
- CRG IM : Fond. Carige Sells 10.5% of Banca Carige to Malacalza
- DBK GY : German Union Calls for Strike of Deutsche Bank’s Postbank: WSJ
- ERF FP : Eurofins Targets Adjusted Ebitda of More Than EU300M in 2015
- ZIL2 GY : ElringKlinger 2014 Pretax, Revenue Rise; Sees 2015 Acquisitions
- FER SM : Ferrovial Wins EU1.2B Contract in London, Expansion Reports
- GSK LN : *GSK SAYS GBP4B TO BE RETURNED TO SHAREHOLDERS
- MAU FP : Maurel & Prom: Test Rate of Over 1,000 Bopd in 2 Gabon Wells
- ORA FP : Orange to Sell Mozilla’s 3G Firefox Phone in Africa, Middle East
- SEV FP : Suez Environnement Seeks Targeted Takeovers, CEO Tells Investir
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia Says It Has Had No Exchange of Views With Orange
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia Won’t Be Forced to Swap to Fiber, Official Says
- UCG IM : UniCredit Shareholders May Propose New Chairman, Sole Reports
- VOD LN : Telefonica, Vodafone Want to Develop Standard Sim; Expansion