Following a six-day sell-off on the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
, a buying mood has finally hit the Street. Futures on all three
major market indexes are pointed modestly north of breakeven this
morning, as investors appear ready to brush off an overwhelmingly
bearish global bias.
Among equities in focus,
Cisco Systems (CSCO )
shorts may jump back on the bearish bandwagon following its
quarterly results;
Priceline.com (PCLN )
could be on track to snap its
historical post-earnings price direction
; sector-wide weakness in global demand weighed on
Canadian Solar's (CSIQ )
bottom line.
And now, on to the numbers...
Market Statistics
Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (
CBOE
) saw 1,635,696 call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to
1,360,464 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call
ratio arrived at 0.83, while the 21-day moving average was
0.67.
From the Trading Floor
Schaeffer's Senior Options Strategist Tony Venosa explains,
"With a lack of economic reports, and an earnings season that is
basically over, the market has once again switched its attention
squarely to the political and economic uncertainty in
Europe
."
SPX
Investors Intelligence sentiment survey
Currencies and Commodities
- The
U.S. dollar index
is flat this morning, with the greenback churning near
$80.16.
-
Crude oil
is staring at a
seventh straight session in the red
, with crude for June delivery down 0.4% at $96.40 per
barrel.
-
Gold futures
continue to fall, as well, with the malleable metal 0.2% lower
at $1,591.10 an ounce.
In earnings news,
Cisco Systems (CSCO - 18.78)
said its fiscal third-quarter earnings improved 20% to $2.17
billion, or 40 cents per share, as revenue rose 6.6% to $11.59
billion. Excluding items, CSCO banked a profit of 48 cents per
share. The results narrowly surpassed consensus estimates, which
called for earnings of 47 cents per share on $11.58 billion in
revenue. Short interest backpedaled by 11.7% during the last two
reporting periods, and now accounts for a low 0.8% of the stock's
float. With CSCO staring at an 7% drop right out of the gate, some
of these short sellers may be encouraged to climb back on
board.
Priceline.com (PCLN - 718.95)
unveiled a first-quarter profit of $182 million, or $3.54 per
share, up 74% from the comparable quarter of 2011. Excluding items,
earnings came in at $4.28 per share, while revenue jumped 28.2% to
$1.04 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of
$3.95 on sales of $1.04 billion. Looking ahead, the travel guru is
forecasting current-quarter revenue growth of 18% to 23%, falling
short of Wall Street's expectations for a 26% increase. No less
than 88% of analysts maintain a "buy" or "strong buy"
recommendation toward the stock. PCLN is down 2.6% ahead of the
bell.
Finally,
Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ - 3.21)
swallowed a first-quarter loss of $21.3 million, or 49 cents per
share, compared to last year's profit of $5.9 million, or 13 cents
per share, as the solar-power sector has been hit by
weakening global demand
. Revenue was also on the decline, backpedaling 27% to $325.8
million. Analysts were expecting a wider loss of 52 cents per share
on $361 million in sales. Short-term traders were piling up on
calls ahead of earnings, with CSIQ's Schaeffer's put/call open
interest ratio (SOIR) docked at 0.34.
Earnings and Economic Data
Weekly jobless claims
, import and export prices, and the
monthly trade balance
are on tap today. On the earnings front, we'll hear from
Express Scripts (
ESRX
)
, Kohl's (
KSS
),
Nordstrom (
JWN
)
, AMC Networks (
AMCX
), Molycorp (MCP), and
Nuance Communications (NUAN)
.
Overseas Trading
Asian markets ended mostly lower today, following suit with Wall
Street's Wednesday sell-off. In addition to continued political
uncertainty in Greece, traders also weighed softer-than-forecast
Chinese trade data. Against this gloomy backdrop, banks and energy
stocks were among the day's top decliners. However, Shanghai
managed to eke out a win, recovering slightly from the previous
session's steep loss. By the close, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed
0.5%, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.4%, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.3%, and
China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.07%.
European equities are wobbling around breakeven at midday.
Downbeat data from Beijing is keeping traders on edge, but Spanish
stocks bounced back from Wednesday's swoon after the government
announced plans to assume a controlling stake in at-risk lender
Bankia SA. At last look, the German DAX is up 0.6%, the French CAC
40 is off 0.08%, and London's FTSE 100 is 0.08% higher.
Unusual Put and Call Activity:
For an explanation of how to use this information, check out our
Education Center
topics on
Option Volume
and
Open Interest Configurations
.
Every morning, our research staff analyzes the prior day
and the overnight markets, and monitors the morning wires to
give you an accurate preview of the day to come. If you enjoyed
today's edition of Opening View, sign up
here
for free daily delivery, straight to your inbox, before the
opening bell.