#PreMarket Primer: Monday, February 10: New Fed Chief Speaks

The markets finished the week on an optimistic note Friday with a triple digit gain putting major indices in positive territory for the week.

Friday, the Dow was up 165.55 points or about one percent to finish the day at 15,794.08. The S&P was up 1.3 percent to 1,797.02 and the NASDAQ was up about 1.7 percent to close at 4,125.86.

This morning, U.S. markets are indicated lower. The Dow is indicated down about 40 points while the S&P is down about four points. The NASDAQ is trending about four points lower.

Today will be the first time new Fed chief Janet Yellen testifies before Congress. Yellen will speak to the House of Representatives today and the Senate on Thursday.

Top Stories

ISS recommends ‘no’ vote on Icahn’s Buyback plan forApple AAPL

Sprint S is rethinking its acquisition of T-Mobile TMUS after U.S. regulators indicate concern over the deal.

Asian Markets

Asian markets were mostly higher in response to a positive U.S. market close on Friday. The Nikkei finished 1.7 percent higher Monday to close at 14,718.34 while the Hang Seng was fractionally lower at 21,579.26.

The Shanghai Composite closed two percent higher at 2,086.07 and the Kospi was flat on the day at 1,923.30.

European Markets

Europe is responding to the favorable Asian market close today as it trends higher. The FTSE is about 0.2 percent higher at 6,582.10 and the DAX is nearly 0.5 percent higher at 9,336.75. Finally, the CAC is 0.5 percent higher at 4,247.58.

Commodities

Energy is lower and metals are mostly higher. WTI is down about 0.3 percent at $99.54 while Brent is down at $109.45. Natural gas is down 1.2 percent at $4.71.

Gold is up about 0.8 percent at $1,273.50 and silver is up about 1.2 percent at $20.18. Copper is flat at $3.23

Currencies

The euro is flat against the dollar at 1.3535 and the dollar is about 0.2 percent weaker against the yen at 102.15.

The pound is 0.1 percent higher against the dollar at 1.639 and the Aussie dollar is at 0.896 against the dollar—up about 0.3 percent.

Pre-Market Movers

Verizon Communications VZis 2.5 percent higher on the back of Sprint/T-Mobile news.

Newmont Mining NEM is up 1.5 percent in heavy premarket trading.

Notable Earnings

The following companies will report earnings today:

Owens & Minor OMI is expected to report fourth-quarter EPS of $0.41 on revenue of $2.34 billion.

Masco Corporation MAS is expected to report fourth-quarter EPS $0.04 on revenue of $1.99 billion.

Molina Healthcare MOH is expected to report fourth-quarter EPS $0.54 on revenue of $1.8 billion.

Markel Corp. MKL is expected to report fourth-quarter EPS of $5.66 on revenue of $1.22 billion.

Economics

There are no economic data releases today however, Fed chief Janet Yellen will testify before the House of Representatives today.