The Before the Bell report is constantly updated to reflect the latest news developments and market moves in the premarket. Check back later for updates.
There's a cautious tone in markets this morning as some of the biggest companies in the U.S. report first-quarter earnings and tensions rise in Ukraine.
U.S. and Canadian stock futures are in positive territory, however, after trading down in the 0.1 per cent to 0.2 per cent range earlier this morning. Several big earnings reports have been released, and the majority beat expectations, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and General Electric.
We detail how those earnings reports have come in under our Stocks to Watch section below.
Earnings reports released after the bell Wednesday from Google and IBM missed Street estimates, cooling earlier market enthusiasm that saw major indexes rally 1 per cent during the trading day.
The S&P 500 index has enjoyed its biggest weekly gain in nine months and markets found some encouragement Wednesday from the latest comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who said the central bank has a "continuing commitment" to support the economy.
But there's a flare up in geopolitical risks this morning, after Ukrainian forces killed three pro-Russian militants after an attack on a national guard base in eastern Ukraine. U.S. and European officials are meeting with Ukraine and Russia today to discuss the crisis.
Now, here's a closer look at what's going on this morning and what's to come.
MARKETS:
Equities:
Futures: S&P 500 +0.18 per cent; Dow +0.11 per cent; Nasdaq +0.36 per cent; S&P Toronto +0.19 per cent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.28 per cent
Shanghai composite index -0.29 per cent
Japan's Nikkei -0.01 per cent
London's FTSE 100 +0.27 per cent
Germany's DAX +0.39 per cent
France's CAC 40 +0.39 per cent
Commodities:
WTI crude oil (Nymex Jun) +0.25 per cent at $103.28 (U.S.) a barrel
Gold (Comex Jun) -0.35 per cent at $1,298.90 (U.S.) an ounce
Copper (Comex Jly) +0.38 per cent at $3.03 (U.S.) a pound
Currencies:
Canadian dollar at 90.92 (U.S.), up 0.0015
U.S. dollar index down 0.17 at 79.62
Bonds:
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 2.63 per cent, down 0.001
ECONOMIC INDICATORS:
Canada's consumer price index for March came in at 1.5 per cent from a year ago, up 1.1 per cent in February. That was a little higher than the Street forecast for 1.4 per cent.
U.S. initial jobless claims last week rose to 304,000 from 300,000 the previous week, but it was below Street expectations for 315,000.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Morgan Stanley reported first-quarter adjusted EPS of 68 cents versus the Street view of 59 cents. Shares are up nearly 3 per cent in the premarket.
Goldman Sachs reported profit of $4.02 a share on revenue of $9.33-billion, surpassing analyst expectations for EPS of $3.48 on revenue of $8.66-billion. Shares are up nearly 2 per cent in the premarket.
Pepsico reported adjusted EPS of 83 cents versus the Street view of 75 cents, and revenues also solidly surpassed expectations. Shares are about 2 per cent in premarket.
General Electric reported adjusted EPS of 33 cents, beating the Street view of 33 cents, and reaffirmed its guidance. Shares are up 1.4 per cent in the premarket.
Philip Morris International reported $1.19 in adjusted profit, beating the Street view by 3 cents.
Mattel unexpectedly reported a loss of 3 cents a share; analysts were expecting profit of 7 cents a share. Shares are down about 4 per cent in the premarket.
Honeywell International reported EPS of $1.28 versus the Street view of $1.26.
UnitedHealth reported adjusted EPS of $1.10 versus the Street call for $1.09.
Schlumberger reported adjusted profit of $1.21 versus Street view of $1.20.
Blackrock reported adjusted profit of $4.43 versus the Street view of $4.11.
Union Pacific reported adjusted profit of $2.38 versus the Street estimate of $2.37.
Dupont reported EPS of $1.54 versus the Street view of $1.59.
Baker Hughes reported adjusted EPS of 84 cents versus the Street view of 78 cents.
Google shares are down 2.5 per cent in the premarket after late Wednesday reporting adjusted EPS of $6.27 a share, below the Street estimate of $6.41.
IBM shares are down 4 per cent in the premarket after late Wednesday releasing adjusted earnings that met Street expectations, but revenues of $22.48-billion came in below the average analyst forecast of $22.91-billion.
Other earnings include: Advanced Micro Devices, Brick Brewing, athenahealth, Baker Hughes, Baxter Internationals, BB&T, Blackstone, Capital Bank, Chipotle Mexican Grill, DuPont, Investors Bancorp, KeyCorp, Peabody Energy, Select Comfort, Sherwin-Williams, Tempur Sealy.
ANALYST ACTIONS:
Desjardins downgraded SunOpta to "sell" from "hold" but hiked its price target to $10.25 (U.S.) from $8.50.
Desjardins Securities upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines to "buy" from "hold" and raised its target to $41 (Canadian) from $40.
Canaccord Genuity upgraded Midway Gold to "speculative buy" from "hold" and maintained a price target of $1.40 (Canadian).
Raymond James upgraded Trilogy Energy to "strong buy" from "outperform" and hiked its price target to $43 (Canadian)from $37.50.
Canaccord Genuity cut its price target on Canadian Pacific Railway to $178 (Canadian) from $183 and kept a "hold" rating.
Pacific Crest upgraded Netflix to "outperform" from "sector perform' with a price target of $500 (U.S.).
RBC Dominion Securities upgraded Alcoa to "sector perform" from "underperform" with a price target of $15 (U.S.).
RBC Dominion Securities downgraded Southern Co. to "sector perform" from "outperform" but raised its price target to $46 (U.S.) from $44.
Oppenheimer upgraded Bank of America to "outperform" from "perform" with a price target of $19 (U.S.)
JPMorgan upgraded Boardwalk Pipeline Partners to "overweight" from "underweight" and raised its price target to $18 (U.S.) from $14.
Baird upgraded SolarCity to "outperform" from "neutral" with a price target of $75 (U.S.).
JPMorgan upgraded Gogo to "overweight" from "neutral" with a price target of $28 (U.S.).
THIS MORNING'S TOP INVESTING LINKS:
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For instant headlines on breaking economic and corporate news in the premarket, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities.
Darcy Keith