Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
  • Asian Stocks Fall as Miners Decline; Pound Drops. A subindex of mining companies weighed the most on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Shares fell in Japan, Australia and South Korea. American shares dropped, with an afternoon swoon wiping out early gains for a second straight day, as investors assessed the impact of proposed tax cuts. Copper plunged the most in almost three years. Ten-year Treasury yields maintained a slide to 2.35 percent, while the dollar held onto gains. The pound extended declines amid stalled Brexit negotiations. The Topix index fell 0.3 percent as of 9:25 a.m. in Tokyo, with mining sub-measures the biggest decliners. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.4 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.3 percent.
  • Bipartisan Bank-Relief Bill Wins Approval From Senate Panel. A key U.S. Senate panel has cleared a bill that could bring financial firms a significant chunk of the regulatory relief they’ve sought since the Dodd-Frank Act became law in 2010. Bipartisan legislation advanced Tuesday by the Senate Banking Committee would revise many parts of the sweeping 2010 overhaul, particularly those pertaining to small and regional banks. It would free midsize lenders from some of the strictest post-crisis oversight and cut compliance costs for community banks. It also includes some tweaks that Wall Street has sought, including a change to how banks classify municipal bonds.
Wall Street Journal:
MarketWatch.com:
CNBC:
Zero Hedge:
Sky News:
  • Islamist suicide plot to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May foiled. Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "It's the latest in a number of terror plots that police and MI5 believe they've foiled this year. "I understand that the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, briefed Cabinet ministers today, such is the seriousness of what they believed they have uncovered. "It is in essence an extreme Islamist suicide plot against Downing Street. Essentially police believe that the plan was to launch some sort of improvised explosive device at Downing Street and in the ensuing chaos attack and kill Theresa May, the Prime Minister. "This is something which has been pursued over several weeks at least by Scotland Yard, MI5 and West Midlands Police. "It came to a head last week with the arrest of two men, by armed police, who were charged with preparing acts of terrorism." Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, from north London and Mohammed Aqib Imran, 21, from south-east Birmingham are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on terror charges on Wednesday morning.
Night Trading 
  • Asian equity indices are -.75% to -.25% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 73.0 unch
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 14.0 unch.
  • Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 73.33 -.03%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.01%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures -.08%.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

  • (AEO)/.38
  • (BF/B)/.53
  • (FRED)/-.13
  • (HRB)/-.72
  • (JW/A)/.82
  • (AVGO)/4.51
  • (KFY)/.64
  • (LULU)/.52
  • (RMAX)/.51
Economic Releases
8:15 am EST
  • The November ADP Employment Change is estimated to fall to 190K versus 235K in October.
8:30 am EST:
  • Final 3Q Non-Farm Productivity is estimated to rise +3.3% versus a prior estimate of a +3.0% gain.
  • Final 3Q Unit Labor Costs are estimated to rise +.2% versus a prior estimate of a +.5% gain.
10:30 am EST
  • Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -2,780,630 barrels versus a -3,429,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline Supplies are estimated to rise by +1,894,000 barrels versus a +3,627,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to rise by 994,380 barrels versus a +2,747,000 barrel gain the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.37% versus a +1.3% gain prior.
Upcoming Splits
  • (PATK) 3-for-2
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Australia GDP report, German Factory Orders report, Japan Trade Balance report, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, (FAST) November Sales report, (NEM) Investor Day, (HD) Analyst Conference, Citi Healthcare Conference, Barclays Tech/Media/Telecom Conference and the Barclays Gaming/Lodging/Leisure/Restaurant/Food Conference could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by financial and mining 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.

No comments: