Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: stock news — 02-02-2018.

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Friday as strong U.S. labour market data bolstered expectations that inflation would push higher and pushed up bond yields further.

Global Stocks:

Nikkei 23,274.53 -211.58 -0.90%

Hang Seng 32,601.78 -40.31 -0.12%

Shanghai 3,462.94 +15.96 +0.46%

S&P/ASX 6,121.40 +31.30 +0.51%

FTSE 7,467.57 -22.82 -0.30%

CAC 5,392.36 -62.19 -1.14%

DAX 12,838.45 -165.45 -1.27%

Crude $65.81 (+0.02%)

Gold $1,342.10 (-0.43%)

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Alphabet A (GOOGL) reiterated with a Buy at Needham; target $1,350

Alphabet A (GOOGL) target lowered to $1,350 from $1,375 B. Riley FBR; Buy

Alphabet A (GOOGL) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel; target $1,150

HP (HPQ) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho; target $23

Apple (AAPL) downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Bernstein

Apple (AAPL) downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Mkts

Chevron (CVX) reported Q4 FY 2017 earnings of $1.64 per share (versus $0.22 in Q4 FY 2016), may not be comparable to the analysts' consensus estimate of $1.24.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $37.616 bln (+19.4% y/y), missing analysts' consensus estimate of $38.425 bln.

The company's Board of Directors also approved a $0.04 per share increase in the quarterly dividend to $1.12 per share, payable in March 2018.

CVX fell to $122.12 (-2 75%) in pre-market trading.

Exxon Mobil (XOM) reported Q4 FY 2017 earnings of $0.88 per share (versus $0.41 in Q4 FY 2016), missing analysts' consensus estimate of $1.03.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $66.515 bln (+9.0% y/y), missing analysts' consensus estimate of $74.408 bln.

XOM fell to $86.35 (-3.05%) in pre-market trading.

Visa (V) reported Q1 FY 2018 earnings of $1.08 per share (versus $0.86 in Q1 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $0.98.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $4.862 bln (+9.0% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $4.824 bln.

V fell to $123.60 (-1.69%) in pre-market trading.

Merck (MRK) reported Q4 FY 2017 earnings of $0.98 per share (versus $0.89 in Q4 FY 2016), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $0.94.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $10.433 bln (+3.1% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $10.485 bln.

The company also issued guidance for FY 2018, projecting EPS of $4.08-4.23 (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $4.11) and revenues of $41.2-42.7 bln (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $41.1 bln).

MRK rose to $60.00 (+0.23%) in pre-market trading.

Apple (AAPL) reported Q1 FY 2018 earnings of $3.89 per share (versus $3.36 in Q1 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $3.85.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $88.293 bln (+12.7% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $87.617 bln.

AAPL rose to $169.25 (+0.88%) in pre-market trading.

Amazon (AMZN) reported Q4 FY 2017 earnings of $2.19 per share (versus $1.54 in Q4 FY 2016), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $1.83.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $60.453 bln (+38.2% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $59.851 bln.

AMZN rose to $1472.40 (+5.93%) in pre-market trading.

Alphabet (GOOG) reported Q4 FY 2017 earnings of $9.70 per share (versus $9.36 in Q4 FY 2016), missing analysts' consensus estimate of $10.07.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $32.323 bln (+24.0% y/y), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $31.879 bln.

GOOG fell to $1,131.00 (-3.14%) in pre-market trading.

DAX has shown some indecision on the last few days.

On daily time frame chart, we can see that the price is stuck in a consolidation zone.

However, at this movement it is close to the bottom of the consolidation (which is a support level).

Therefore, if the price starts to reject more downside movements we can expect a further bullish movement soon.

European stock gauges finished with sizable losses Thursday as February kicked off, falling for a fourth session in a row as global bond yields extended their recent climb. The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.50% dropped 0.5% to end at 393.52, turning negative after a morning gain. It closed at a four-week low, cutting its 2018 gain to 1.1%.

U.S. stock indexes ended mostly lower on Thursday, switching between gains and losses as fears of a pick up in inflation and rising bond yields fostered emerging volatility on Wall Street.

Stock indexes in Japan and South Korea suffered earnings-related hits Friday, with Samsung Electronics falling 3.5% after rival Apple's latest quarterly financial results. Apple AAPL, +0.21% reported a slight drop in iPhone sales in the three months through December and gave a downbeat revenue forecast for the current quarter.