Investors are starting off the first full trading week of 2015 with a sell-off after a stellar 2014.
Stocks are sharply lower across the board amid fears over Greece's future in the euro zone and oil prices hit fresh five year lows.
The steep drop in oil prices is taking a toll on some oil companies this morning.
BP (BP) shares fell ahead of the bell. The Financial Times reported that the British oil giant's earnings and dividend income will likely take a big hit because of its nearly 20% stake in Russia state-owned Rosneft. BP is set to lose hundreds millions of dollars as a result of the rapid decline in oil prices and the Russia's financial crisis that has sent the ruble tumbling, according to the FT.
Oil refiner HollyFrontier (HFC) also in the spotlight for similar reasons. The company said it would take a pretax charge of up to $400 million dollars because of a more than a 45% decline in crude prices in the last quarter of 2014. Shares of HollyFrontier are sharply lower on the news.
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DreamWorks Animation (DWA) is shaking things up in its creative ranks after some disappointing box office releases. The company’s chief creative officer is stepping down, and the producers behind “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Madagascar” franchises will take over as co-presidents of feature animation.
Amazon (AMZN) shares also on investors' watch list this morning. The online retailer said sellers from 100 countries sold record $2 billion items on its site in 2014.
Automakers are rolling out December and full year sales figures today. General Motors (GM) ended 2014 with a bang. The automaker reported sales jumped a better-than-expected 19.3% in December.
Chrysler (FCAU), sales soared 20% last month, thanks to strong demand for its Jeep SUVs. Still, that was short of analysts' estimates.
Ford (F) sales also missed the mark, just rising 1% in December.
In other news.
The federal government reportedly is looking at regulating payday loans. The Wall Street Journal says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering ways to help borrowers avoid being caught in an endless cycle of debt and high fees with those loans.
And it's the Super Bowl for Geeks-- the International Consumer Electronics Show kicking off today in Las Vegas.
Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task says some highlights at the CES will be the “The Internet of Things,” consumer robotics, drones, 3D printers and 4DTV.
Task points out that although CES is one of the biggest tech shows of the year we haven't seen a huge breakout for quite some time.
“There hasn’t been a real big hit out CES since 2001, when Microsoft (MSFT) launched the Xbox,” he notes.