Apple Today - 12/21/2015 (AAPL)
seymour_greenz • December 21st 2015 09:51:47 AM
Good Morning,
Welcome back from the weekend. NASDAQ Futures are up 37 with +35 Fair Value, Dow Futures are up 117 on this December Ex-OPEX. Futures were up more earlier, peaking around 6am, but are still up strong. Could this be the the beginning of a "Christmas rally" or will there be more "tax selling"?
Asian markets closed mostly in the green today. China was strongest, up 1.77% and Hong Kong gained 0.17%. On the other hand, Japan lost 0.37%. European markets are all currently up. UK is leading the group, up 0.90%. Germany is up 0.67% and France is 0.29%.
Commodities are mostly up this morning, except energy which is mostly down along with a few softs and silver, which is flat. Oil is down 1.35%, unleaded gas is down 3.15%. Natural gas is up 2.6% and gold is up 0.22%. All other metals, agriculture, meats are up. Cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton and rough rice are down.
Oil prices hit lowest since 2004 as supply continues to increase.
This afternoon look for earnings from Cintas (CTAS). Tomorrow morning, ConAgra Foods (CAG) and Paychex (PAYX) are scheduled to report.
AAPL had another rough week, losing over 7 points and nearly 6.5%. Carrying over from weakness in the previous week, AAPL started out by losing the 113 and then struggled to hold 112, severely lagging the market early in the week. Wednesday's Fed announcement brought a market relief rally in which AAPL did not really participate in. Instead, during the subsequent selloff AAPL contributed 110% and fell to new lows on Thursday, and a stunning 3-point drop on Friday, losing 2.71% on OPEX day alone on nearly 100 million shares, over 2x average volume.
This morning in pre-market, AAPL opened up higher in conjunction with Futures, quickly going from 107.03 at 4:02am to 107.88 at 4:23am on low volume. Hanging around 107.5 for most of the morning, AAPL dipped towards 107 after 7:45am, hitting 107.06 at 8:28am on high volume before bouncing back to the mid-107 area with a rogue spike down to 106.03 at 8:56am on high volume. AAPL is currently up 1.30 at 107.33.
Classic max-pain is 110.
Oil prices hit 2004 lows:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN0U400T20151221
Martin Shkreli hacked?
http://national.suntimes.com/national-world-news/7/72/2320383/martin-shkrelis-social-media-accounts-get-hacked/
Social Security rules:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2015/12/20/social-security-qa-how-do-the-new-rules-affect-file-and-suspend/
Wind power picking up:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/21/460527376/wind-power-continues-steady-growth-across-the-u-s
Solar boom coming?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-17/what-just-happened-to-solar-and-wind-is-a-really-big-deal
Apple and Ericsson enter patent settlement:
http://in.reuters.com/article/ericsson-apple-idINKBN0U40NT20151221
Tim Cook says no trade-off between security and privacy:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3017517/security/tim-cook-says-there-isnt-a-trade-off-between-security-and-privacy.html
Apple to debut 3D Touch tech for iPad-sized screens:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/15/apple-to-debut-scalable-3d-touch-tech-for-ipad-sized-screens-after-iphone-7-source-says
Siri vs Cortana in assistant showdown:
http://time.com/4156795/siri-cortana-microsoft-voice-assistant-apple-iphone/
What's Apple's next big thing?
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/13/the-search-for-apples-next-big-thing-
Facebook finally axes Flash:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-switches-to-html5-for-all-video-instead-of-flash/
GE to announce new headquarters in January:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-headquarters-idUSKBN0U404Y20151221
Is Juniper hack actually a foriegn threat?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/politics/juniper-networks-us-government-security-hack/
Free TV with Galaxy Note:
http://bgr.com/2015/12/21/galaxy-s6-note-5-free-tv/
Most popular apps of 2015:
http://qz.com/577711/americas-10-most-popular-apps-of-2015/
More on Sony's new smartphone batteries:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3017077/consumer-electronics/sony-is-building-new-battery-chemistry-to-make-smartphones-last-much-longer.html
Final Fantasy latest trailer:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2015/12/21/world-of-final-fantasy-overdoses-on-cuteness-in-latest-trailer/
Watch emergency spacewalk live:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/12/21/watch-live-as-astronauts-perform-an-emergency-spacewalk/
Cassini says goodbye to Enceladus:
http://news.discovery.com/space/cassini-begins-final-dive-toward-saturn-moon-enceladus-151218.htm
Want a real lightsaber?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1218/What-would-it-take-to-make-a-real-working-lightsaber
Watch SpaceX's historic rocket launch:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1220/SpaceX-attempts-historic-rocket-launch-Monday.-Here-s-how-to-watch-it
NASA accepting astronaut applications:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/be-an-astronaut-nasa-accepting-applications-for-future-explorers
How anyone can explore Mars:
http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/mars-virtual-reality/
NASA is 3D printing a rocket engine:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Piece_by_piece_NASA_is_3_D_printing_a_rocket_engine_999.html
Smog alert:
http://www.ibtimes.com/china-air-pollution-smog-red-alert-spurs-factory-closures-beijing-2234074
Study finds 1/3 of incurable cancer patients continue to work:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015-12-21/one-third-of-incurable-cancer-patients-continue-to-work-study-finds
Woman credits search-and-rescue dog with detecting her lung cancer:
http://wtop.com/health/2015/12/woman-credits-search-and-rescue-dog-with-detecting-her-lung-cancer/
Skepticism about study linking antidepressants with autism
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2015/12/21/skepticism-about-study-linking-antidepressants-and-autism/
Today's Economic Calendar:
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
Notable earnings after today's close: *CTAS*, GSPE, SCS
And tomorrow before the open: *CAG*, *PAYX*