U.S. futures have turned tail this morning and are now following Asian and European markets lower, as oil again is the tail wagging the dog. Yesterday, in Houston, the Saudi Oil Minister stated that there would be no production cuts to offset the sickening slide in rude crude. The irony here is that no one needs the price of oil higher than the Saudis themselves given the massive handouts they have to dole out just to keep the thousands in the extended royal family in the life style they are accustomed to. Talking about cutting one's nose, no?
Last night after the close, Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer said that the Fed does not know the course of action at the next meeting in March and that it was still too early to gauge the impact of current market volatility. Have these folks ever heard an earnings conference call from corporate America?
In addition, we have three more Fed Heads to deal with today, Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker before the opening bell and St. Louis President James Bullard late evening. In between those two, we will have Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speaking at the Harvard Club of Dallas at 12.45 p.m. Talk about making as much noise as they can.
Yesterday, Fitbit (FIT) saw the aftermath of dropping the bit, as they say, by lowering guidance for the March quarter. The shares, which were already slaughtered, got another haircut of 20% or so, despite the company maintaining guidance for full-year 2016 and a massive beat for the December quarter. In this "shoot first" market environment investors have no patience for any type of "wait until later" spiel from company management.
Even a report out from IDC this morning, which says that Fitbit hammered the competition in global shipments for wearable in the fourth quarter, is not doing anything to buoy spirits. According to IDC, FIT shipped 8.1 million devices in 4Q for a 30% market share, vs. Apple (AAPL) at No. 2 with 4.1 million devices.
Speaking of spiels, why is Angie's List (ANGI) not a penny stock yet? The company reported numbers last night after the closing bell that were disappointing to say the least. Were it not for the offer from Barry Diller, ANGI would likely be penny stock. Actually, it should still be despite Diller's offer.
This morning we will also be waiting on PMI services and new home sales data at 9:45 and 10:00, respectively, followed by EIA petroleum data at 10:30.
Get ready for another crazily volatile day and as always, "It's not don't fight the Fed, it's don't trust the Fed."
