Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.5% to +.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 92.25 -.5 basis point. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 21.75 -.25 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 72.34 unch.
• S&P 500 futures +.12%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.11%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (APA)/.16
• (AVP)/.01
• (ARW)/1.44
• (AVP)/.01
• (CAB)/.38
• (CHK)/.17
• (DBD)/.01
• (D)/.95
• (H)/.32
• (K)/1.00
• (MBLY)/.24
• (PWR)/.41
• (REGN)/3.07
• (SFM)/.30
• (VIAB)/.59
• (ZTS)/.48
• (CBS)/.95
• (MRO)/-.10
• (MNST)/.32
• (SHAK)/.08
• (OLED)/.00
• (YRCW)/-.21
• (ZG)/.05

Economic Releases  

7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts YoY for April.

8:30 am EST

• The Trade Deficit for March is estimated to widen to -$44.5B versus -$43.6B in February.
• Preliminary 1Q Non-Farm Productivity is estimated to fall -.1% versus a +1.3% gain in 4Q. 
• Preliminary 1Q Unit Labor Costs are estimated to rise +2.7% versus a +1.7% gain in 4Q.
• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to fall to 248K versus 257K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 1990K versus 1988K prior.

10:00 am EST

• Factory Orders for March are estimated to rise +.4% versus a +1.0% gain in February.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China Manufacturing Services report, Eurozone Services PMI report, ECB's Mario Draghi speaking, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, (WHR) investor day, (VZ) annual meeting and the (BKE)/(CATO)/(FRED)/(LB) monthly sales reports could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by industrial and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.