Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 95.25 -2.75 basis points.
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 25.5 -.75 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 71.60 -.03%. 
• S&P 500 futures -.05%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.04%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (APA)/.07
• (AAWW)/2.25
• (CRI)/1.67
• (CHK)/.06
• (CM)/2.59
• (ICPT)/-3.68
• (KSS)/1.33
• (SAFM)/1.18
• (SHLD)/-2.85
• (SFM)/.13
• (TK)/-.09
• (TTC)/.36
• (VC)/1.31
• (BIDU)/1.06
• (CECO)/-.06
• (GPS)/.51
• (HLF)/.97
• (INTU)/.25
• (JWN)/1.15
• (ZOES)/-.06

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for January is estimated to fall to 0.0 versus .14 in December.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 240K versus 239K prior.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2068K versus 2076K the prior week.  
  

9:00 am EST

• The FHFA House Price Index MoM for December is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.5% gain in November.

11:00 am EST

• The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for February is estimated at 9.0 versus 9.0 in January.
• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory build of +3,438,890 barrels versus a +9,527,000 barrel build the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -1,533,330 barrels versus a +2,846,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,033,330 barrels versus a -689,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.01% versus a -2.3% decline prior. 

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Lockhart speaking, German GDP report, $28B 7Y T-Note auction, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by commodity and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.