Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 116.75 -1.75 basis points. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 33.75 -1.0 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 72.58 +.02%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.12%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.12%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate 

• (ALK)/2.06
• (AAL)/1.70
• (BK)/.81
• (DHR)/.82
• (FITB)/.65
• (GNTX)/.30
• (ITW)/1.49
• (NUE)/.90
• (PPG)/1.56
• (PHM)/.43
• (DGX)/1.35
• (RS)/1.31
• (SNA)/2.15
• (TXT)/.66
• (UNP)/1.40
• (VZ)/.99
• (APOL)/-.05
• (CCI)/1.11
• (FWRD)/.51
• (MXIM)/.47
• (KLAC)/1.04
• (MSFT)/.68
• (PYPL)/.35
• (SLB)/.22
• (WERN)/.26

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to rise to 250K versus 246K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 2053K versus 2046K prior.
• The Philly Fed Business Outlook Index for October is estimated to fall to 5.0 versus 12.8 in September.      

10:00 am EST

• Existing Home Sales for September are estimated to rise to 5.35M versus 5.33M in August.
• The Leading Index for September is estimated to rise +.2% versus a -.2% decline in August. 

Upcoming Splits 

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Dudley speaking, ECB Press Conference,  Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for October, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the weekly EIA natural gas inventory report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.