Morning Briefing 1-26-2015 U.S. stock-index futures are falling, following the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s first weekly gain this year, after Greek opposition party Syriza won in Sunday’s election. SP futs are currently down -6.5, dow futs -65. The underlying index rallied 1.6 percent last week after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said it plans to buy up to 1.14 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) of private and public securities. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts lost 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,531 today. “There will some sort of compromise in Greece over the next few weeks or few months but along the way it’ll be bumpy,” said Daniel Murray, the London-based chief economist and head of research at EFG Asset Management Ltd., which manages $12 billion. “There’s a very strong mandate here against austerity and the existing setup. At the same time, Syriza’s rhetoric has softened over the past couple of weeks. While they want to renegotiate the terms of the bailout, they also want to stay within the euro.” Greek equities fell after Syriza, whose leader has pledged to renegotiate the nation’s international bailout, won 149 out of a possible 300 seats in Parliament. Prime Minister-elect Alexis Tsipras’ mandate is now to confront the nation’s program of austerity, imposed in return for pledges of 240 billion euros in aid since May 2010. His pledges include a writedown of Greek debt while persuading European creditors to keep aid flowing. Investors are also watching earnings reports. DR Horton Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among thosereleasing quarterly results today. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 77 percent have exceeded earnings projections after analysts reduced their estimates. Profit at S&P 500 companies climbed 1.1 percent in the last three months of 2014, analysts predict, down from an October estimate of 8.1 percent. Transocean Ltd. lost 0.8 percent in early New York trading. The offshore rig operator, which was the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 last year, fell as the price of oil slid amid signs that Saudi Arabia’s new king will maintain its production policy. Ocwen Financial Corp. surged 34 percent. The company, one of the biggest U.S. mortgage servicers, avoided a threatened suspension of its license after agreeing to pay $2.5 million to settle a dispute with the state of California.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 11:09:13 +0000
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