Stocks that are expected to trade actively in the U.S. market on Thursday include: McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI).
Market Level
U.S.: Dow 16,373.34 (-0.25%), S&P 500 1844.86 (0.06%), NASDAQ 4243.00 (0.41%).
Europe: FTSE 6819.21 (-0.10%), DAX 9702.24 (-0.18%), CAC 40 4327.85 (0.07%).
Asia Pacific: NIKKEI 15695.89 (-0.79%), HANG SENG 22733.90 (-1.51%), SHANGHAI 2042.18 (-0.47%), KOSPI 1947.59 (-1.16%).
Commodities: Oil 96.71 (-0.02%), NAT GAS 4.863 (3.71%), Gold 1245.10 (0.52%), Silver 20.08 (1.19%), Wheat 566.00 (0.85%), Corn 428.75 (0.59%).
Currency: EUR/USD 1.363 (0.62%), GBP/USD 1.6593 (0.13%), USD/JPY 104.29 (-0.22%).
10 year Treasury bond: 2.844 (-0.026).
Market & Economic Updates
U.S. markets giving mixed response – The S&P traded flat on Wednesday as corporate houses posted mixed earnings, which could not boost the confidence of investors. The Dow posted a loss owing to weak results from one of its components while the Nasdaq gained getting support from BlackBerry.
European market flat – European shares were flat on Thursday as the upturn in the economic activity in various regions compensated for the corporate earnings news and sluggish economic data from China. At 0921 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 tumbled 0.1% at 1,345.13 points; recovering from early losses suffered due to weaker than expected Chinese manufacturing data.
Asian market down – The Nikkei ended 0.8% lower on Thursday following the survey that revealed manufacturing activity in China contracted in January for the first time in six months. The Nikkei closed 125.07 points lower at 15,695.89. The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5% to 22,733.9 points, its lowest close since Jan. 7. The China Enterprises Index dropped 2.1%.
Stocks to watch
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
McDonalds posted its fourth quarter earnings at $1.39 per share, and revenue for the company came in at $7.11 billion. Shares of the company surged 0.13% to $95.00 in after-hours trading. Recently, McDonalds denied that it avoided paying tax on around 2.2 billion euros of revenue, over the past year.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Netflix posted better than expected fourth quarter results, and shares jumped 17.96% to $393.67 in the after-hours trading session. Netflix expanded to 2.3 million subscribers in the United States and more than 4 million overall, bringing the total to 44 million worldwide.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Analysts expect Microsoft to post earnings of $0.68 per share on revenue of $23.68 billion in the second quarter. The shares added 0.67% to $36.17 in after-hours trading. Recently, the head lawyer of Microsoft suggested that customers abroad will be able to save their personal data in non-US data centers.
eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)
eBay posted higher fourth quarter earnings, and revealed that Carl Icahn has suggested the company to spin off PayPal as a separate company. The shares surged 5.70% to $57.51 in the after-hours trading session. In the current fiscal active registered users sign-in increased to 5.2 million contributing 143 million to PayPal.
Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI)
For the first quarter, Johnson Controls is expected to post earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $10.73 billion. Shares of Johnson climbed 1.34% to $52.25 in after-hours trading.
