Wednesday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.50% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 96.0 unch.
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 26.5 +1.0 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 71.30 -.08%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.20%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.10%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (AEO)/.38
• (BBY)/1.67
• (DLTR)/1.33
• (LOW)/.78
• (MNST)/.30
• (SHAK)/.09

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Personal Income for January is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.3% gain in December.
• Personal Spending for January is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.5% gain in December.
• PCE Core MoM for January is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.1% gain in December. 

9:45 am EST

• Final Markit US Manufacturing PMI for February is estimated to rise to 54.5 versus a prior estimate of 54.3.
  

10:00 am EST

• ISM Manufacturing for February is estimated to rise to 56.2 versus 56.0 in January.
• ISM Prices Paid for February is estimated to fall to 68.0 versus 69.0 in January.
• Construction Spending MoM for January is estimated to rise +.6% versus a -.2% decline in December. 

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory build of +1,633,330 barrels versus a +564,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -1,277,780 barrels versus a -2,628,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -900,000 barrels versus a -4,924,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.34% versus a -1.1% decline prior.

2:00 pm EST

• US Fed Beige Book.
  

Afternoon

• Total Vehicle Sales for February is estimated to rise to 17.7M versus 17.48M in January.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Kaplan speaking, German Unemployment report, weekly MBA mortgage applications report, (F) Feb. Sales Call, (HON) investor conference, (XOM) analyst meeting, (HSY) analyst day, Simmons Energy Conference, (MCD) investor meeting, BoA Merrill Ag/Chemical Conference, BTIG Med Tech/Diagnostics/Healthcare Conference and the Wells Fargo Real Estate Conference 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 mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.