US pre-market: Stock futures pare losses, Cowen downgrades Boeing

Stock futures have slashed losses with the Dow now shaping up to open flat or even a touch higher around 28,580-90. We've got a 50-day line coming in around 28.055 that bears don't seem confident of breaching. The S&P 500 is seen at 3245.

Wire reports of an attack on a convoy of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad crossed at 11:03 GMT but failed to really budge the market in either direction.

In Europe we've only really seen mild risk-off selling with the FTSE and DAX down around 0.1% or so. The FTSE 100 has gone back to where it started the week at 7575. At present you sense traders are sitting on their hands a bit while they wait for the US president to respond officially to the Iranian attacks.

WTI has held under $63 whilst Brent is holding below $69 for now. Oil markets are hyper-sensitive to news from the Middle East though. Short term spikes seem good to fade, although we continue to make higher lows for the time being. Baker Hughes reported US rig count down 6 in Dec to 804, with global rig count up 1 to 2,043. Meanwhile Petrobas and other tanker majors are said to be suspending sailings through the Strait of Hormuz.

Gold has failed to rally and tracked back to $1580 as US yields remain supported.

Sterling is weaker with GBPUSD slipping its key support at 1.3140 to briefly take a 1.30 handle again. Dollar strength is creeping back in though with EURUSD also weaker at 1.1120 and USDJPY rallied to a session high at 108.7620.

The geopolitical tension has been good for cryptos – Bitcoin futures continue to advance but run into resistance at the 200-day moving average at $8570.

Cowen downgrades Boeing

Let's face it, Boeing is in a fix. It's terrible news on top of bad news. Whilst we await to see whether it really was a technical/engine problem that led to its plane crashing shortly after take-off in Tehran (I have my doubts – the timing is very, very suspect), there are few who think that the company is out of the woods. Meanwhile analysts at Cowen have taken the axe to the stock. Cai Rumohr downgrade Boeing to Hold. The consensus remains a Buy, however. Shares are almost 2% weaker in pre-market trading. Will drag on the Dow if it persists.

Apple Services revenues exploding

Nice numbers for Apple indicating that its pivot to being more of a Services business is in full swing. App store customers spent a record $1.42bn between Christmas and New Year, 16% up on last year, the company has said. Management also revealed that Apple News is drawing over 100m monthly active users across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This is all to the good – Services margins are about double that for the rest of the business and will mean re-rating of the stock going forward. Shares are flat in pre-market trading but might make a stab at breaching $300 again.