Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Australia's Jobless Rate Falls to Lowest in More Than Four Years. Australia’s jobless rate unexpectedly fell in October as fewer people sought work, while full-time positions that have driven hiring this year extended their surge.

• 3 Charts to Know: Time to Buy the Dip in Stocks? (video)

• Stock Slide Pauses in Asia; Aussie Bonds Advance. (video) Benchmarks in Japan fluctuated after the Topix index on Wednesday recorded its biggest drop since March. Australia’s benchmark opened little changed. The S&P 500 Index pared the worst of Wednesday’s losses as bank shares rallied, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the biggest drop in two months for U.S. equities. The gap between two-year and 10-year U.S. yields shrank to a fresh low for 2017, a potential concern given how a flattening in the yield curve has sometimes served as a precursor to an economic downturn. The Topix index swung between gains and losses as of 9:11 a.m. in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.4 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was flat. South Korea’s markets will open an hour later because of national exam day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures climbed 0.4 percent.

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day. (video)

• S&P 500 Bears Are Back. (graph)

• Cisco(CSCO) Sees First Revenue Growth in Eight Quarters; Shares Up.

• Twitter Cracks Down on Verified Accounts With New Policy. (video) Twitter Inc. updated its policies for removing the verification of a user’s identity, saying it can pull the blue check mark at any time without notice for behavior including promoting hate or inciting harassment of others.

Wall Street Journal:

• Republican Sen. Ron Johnson Opposes GOP Senate Tax Package. Wisconsin Republican says plan unfairly benefits corporations over other businesses, says he finds bill’s process ‘offensive’.

• Activist Peltz Narrowly Wins P&G Board Seat, New Count Shows. Investor won proxy fight by slim 43,000 vote margin, according to preliminary report, weeks after P&G had declared victory.

• A Litigious Climate Threatens Scientific Norms. An energy researcher sues another over a critical paper. It’s the wrong way to resolve such disputes.

MarketWatch.com:

• Stock market ‘not even close’ to pricing in tax cuts, says UBS.

• A selloff in junk bonds may not spark a crash, or a recession, says Deutsche Bank.

Fox News:

• Fusion GPS told media of Trump-Russia claims, but did not verify dossier: source. (video)

CNBC:

• Keep bitcoin away from the real economy, says billionaire 'father of high speed trading'. (video)

Zero Hedge:

• Musk Fires Back: Blasts "Hotbed Of MISinformation" In Racial Discrimination Lawsuit.

• Times Square Losing Marquee Office Tenants As Wading Through "Desnudas" To Get To Work Grows Old.

• The Complete Idiot's Guide To The Biggest Risks In China.

• Foreigners Splurge On US Stocks: Buy Second-Most US Equities In 8 Years.

• House Democrats Introduce Five Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump.

• Judge Moore Doubles Down On Denial; Alleges That Gloria Allred's Yearbook Message Is A "Fraud".

• S&P Breaks Longest Period Of Calm In 52 Years As Yield Curve Carnage Continues. (graph)

Business Insider:

• Hackers pose an increasingly dire threat to the power grid.

• Rare Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for record $450 million.

• America's debt is surging, and some of the riskiest borrowers are struggling to pay back.

• BuzzFeed posted a bizarre theory that Starbucks'(SBUX) holiday cups 'might have a gay agenda'.

Night Trading 

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

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 81.25 +1.25 basis points. 

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 16.0 +.25 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 72.34 +.03%.

• S&P 500 futures +.17%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.23%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (BBY)/.78

• (SJM)/1.90

• (SSI)/-.71

• (VIAB)/.86

• (WMT)/.97

• (CRMT)/.75

• (AMAT)/.90

• (GPS)/.54

• (POST)/.93

• (ROST)/.67

• (SCVL)/.62

• (SPLK)/.14

• (WSM)/.84

Economic Releases 

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to fall to 235K versus 239K the prior week.

• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1900K versus 1901K prior.

• Philly Fed Business Outlook Index for November is estimated to fall to 24.6 versus 27.9 in October.

• The Import Price Index MoM for October is estimated to rise +.4% versu a +.8% gain in September.

• The Export Price Index MoM for October is estimated to  rise +.4% versus a +.8% gain in September. 

9:15 am EST

• Industrial Production MoM for October is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.3% gain in September. 

• Capacity Utilization for October is estimated to rise to 76.3% versus 76.0% in September.

• Manufacturing Production for October is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.1% gain in September.
  

10:00 am EST

• The NAHB Housing Market Index for November is estimated to fall to 67.0 versus 68.0 in October.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Mester speaking, House vote on tax bill, Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for November, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, (KO) investor day, Eurozone CPI report, FCC November meeting, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, (CMI) analyst day, (OC) investor day, (RH) investor day, (ROK) investor meeting, (HAIN) general meeting and the BofA Merrill Energy 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.