Thursday Watch

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -.75% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 149.0 -2.0 basis points.

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 117.50 +1.5 basis points. 

• FTSE-100 futures -.15%.

• S&P 500 futures +.15%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.29%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (MKC)/.78

• (NKE)/.78 

Economic Releases 
8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to rise to 325K versus 309K the prior week.

• Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 2818K versus 2787K prior.

• 2Q GDP is estimated to rise +2.6% versus a prior estimate of a +2.5% gain.

• 2Q Personal Consumption is estimated to rise +1.9% versus a prior estimate of a +1.8% gain.

• 2Q GDP Price Index is estimated to rise +.8% versus a prior estimate of a +.8% gain.

• 2Q Core PCE is estimated to rise +.8% versus a prior estimate of a +.8% gain.

 10:00 am EST

• Pending Home Sales for August are estimated to fall -1.0% versus a -1.3% decline in July.

11:00 am EST

• Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity for September is estimated at 8.0 versus 8.0 in August.

Upcoming Splits

• (WST) 2-for-1

• (TSCO) 2-for-1

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's George speaking, Fed's Stein speaking, Fed's Kocherlakota speaking, China Industrial Profits Report, Japan CPI, UK GDP Report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the (ORCL) Financial Analyst Meeting could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by real estate and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.