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business newsPre-Market Primer: Moody's Downgrades Big Banks
By
Vincent Trivett
Feb 16, 2012 9:15 am
Ratings agencies: full of sound and fury, signifying stuff that everybody already knows.
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Moody's warned major financial institutions that their ratings are under review. Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup, (C) and about 100 other investment banks with global capital markets operations were among them. Moody's threatened that some might be brought down as much as three notches. All of those firms are down slightly in the pre-market. US stock futures were pointing to a lower opening for the third straight day, until bullish economic data gave futures a boost.
Some really bullish US economic data came out this morning. Initial jobless claims continued its downward trajectory last week. 348,000 applications for unemployment insurance were filed, far less than economists' estimates of 365,000. The four-week moving average fell to 365,250, the lowest level since April 2008. Housing Starts also beat consensus estimates, rising to 699,000. The Producer Price Index rose 0.1%, up from -0.1% in the December.
General Motors (GM) fourth-quarter results missed expectations due to sluggish growth in Latin America and a $300 million loss at Opel, GM's European unit. Earnings per share was $0.39, the auto maker's lowest quarterly profit since its stock market debut.
CBS Corp. (CBS) dropped nearly 3% in the pre-market after reporting a 31% rise in profits. Revenues missed expectations, however. CBS stands to benefit this year from massive political ad spending and a potential deal with Netflix (NFLX) to make original content for the streaming service.
Asian markets ended the day down.
Japanese police arrested Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the former president of Olympus Corp (OCPNY.PK), and several other tied to the $1.7 billion dollar accounting fraud at the company. The camera and medical equipment maker's former CEO, Michael Woodford, was fired by Kikukawa for inquiring about some bogus acquisitions and losses hidden in foreign tax shelters.
Twitter: @vincent_trivett
- Dow (^DJI) futures are up 0.02% to 12,765.00.
- S&P 500 (SPY) futures dropped 0.11% to 1,340.70.
- Nasdaq (^IXIC) futures rose 0.08% to 22,559.50.
Some really bullish US economic data came out this morning. Initial jobless claims continued its downward trajectory last week. 348,000 applications for unemployment insurance were filed, far less than economists' estimates of 365,000. The four-week moving average fell to 365,250, the lowest level since April 2008. Housing Starts also beat consensus estimates, rising to 699,000. The Producer Price Index rose 0.1%, up from -0.1% in the December.
General Motors (GM) fourth-quarter results missed expectations due to sluggish growth in Latin America and a $300 million loss at Opel, GM's European unit. Earnings per share was $0.39, the auto maker's lowest quarterly profit since its stock market debut.
CBS Corp. (CBS) dropped nearly 3% in the pre-market after reporting a 31% rise in profits. Revenues missed expectations, however. CBS stands to benefit this year from massive political ad spending and a potential deal with Netflix (NFLX) to make original content for the streaming service.
Asian markets ended the day down.
Japanese police arrested Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the former president of Olympus Corp (OCPNY.PK), and several other tied to the $1.7 billion dollar accounting fraud at the company. The camera and medical equipment maker's former CEO, Michael Woodford, was fired by Kikukawa for inquiring about some bogus acquisitions and losses hidden in foreign tax shelters.
Twitter: @vincent_trivett
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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