Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:

• China’s Central Bank Raises Rates in Open-Market Operations.

• Australia Jobless Rate Edges Higher, Employment Misses Estimates. Australia added fewer jobs than forecast in February and unemployment edged higher as more people sought work, suggesting the central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged.

• Saudis Hunting for Deals Plan to Meet Amazon(AMZN), Apple(AAPL), Google(GOOGL).

• Dollar Down, Asia Stocks Mixed on Less Hawkish Fed. Stock benchmarks inched higher in Japan, rose in South Korea, and edged lower in Australia. The greenback sank as the Fed did not suggest that it was leaning to ward four rate hikes this year, as some had expected, and it kept its inflation forecasts little changed. The yen was the strongest of the Group-of-10 currencies. The U.S. 10-year yield maintained losses while yields on two-year U.S. Treasuries, which are more sensitive to changes in Fed policy than longer-debt, dropped the most since early February. Japan’s Topix index rose 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.3 percent as of 9:46 a.m. Tokyo time.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.7 percent.Futures on the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3 percent.Futures on the S&P 500 Index added less than 0.1 percent after the underlying gauge fell 0.2 percent.

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

Wall Street Journal:

• Europe’s Tax War on U.S. Tech. It won’t raise much revenue but it will hurt EU tax competition.

• Yes, Shut Down Mueller. Donald Trump is right about the special prosecutor, but for the wrong reason.

• Congressional Leaders Finalize Spending Deal. Lawmakers have two days to consider and pass bill before government’s current funding expires.

• U.S., China Sharpen Trade Swords. As China braces for U.S. trade action on aluminum, steel and intellectual property, it is drawing up tariffs for U.S. farm products.

• Median CEO Pay Hit Record of Nearly $12 Million in 2017, Juiced by Markets. Most S&P 500 chiefs got raises of 10% or more and median pay rose to $11.6 million, as stock awards swelled.

MarketWatch.com:

• Fed hawks and doves send different signals on rates and inflation, but doves rule roost.

• Why the Facebook controversy could be good for Apple(AAPL).

• These 40 companies have had the biggest earnings-estimate increases in 2018.

• FedEx(FDX)-Walmart(WMT) partnership could create ‘mini-fulfillment centers’ in the future.

• The Dead End of Identity Politics. To expand the base is almost inevitably to shrink it equally.

Fox News: 

• Austin bomber recorded 25-minute 'confession' to his deadly crimes, police say. (video)

CNBC:

• UK launches task force to scrutinize cryptocurrency risks and benefits.

• Russia and China are 'aggressively developing' hypersonic weapons — here's what they are and why the US can't defend against them. (video)

• Salesforce's(CRM) pricey MuleSoft(MULE) deal could force rivals to pay up for cloud software companies. (video) 

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Five Below, Herman Miller & more.

Zero Hedge:   

• Zuckerberg To Appear On CNN At 9PM; Is Summoned By UK Over Growing Scandal.

• Andrew McCabe Ordered FBI To Investigate Jeff Sessions.

• Zuckerberg Issues Statement On Cambridge Analytica: "We Made Mistakes".

• Congress Just Quietly Formed A Committee To Bail-Out 200 Pension Funds.

• Steve Cohen's Point72 Posts Loss During First Month Managing Outside Money.

• Gold Spikes As Hawkish Powell Sends Dollar, Bond Yields, & Stocks Lower. (graph)

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are unch. to +.5% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 75.75 -.5 basis point. 

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 13.0 unch.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 75.30 +.06%.

• FTSE 100 futures -.08%.

• S&P 500 futures +.17%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.25%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (ACN)/1.49

• (CCL)/.43

• (CMC)/.29

• (CAG)/.57

• (DRI)/1.64

• (GIII)/.17

• (JKS)/.17

• (HOME)/.35

• (CTAS)/1.27

• (KBH)/.29

• (MU)/2.74

• (NKE)/.53

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 225K versus 226K the prior week. 

• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1870K versus 1879K prior.

9:00 am EST

• The FHFA House Price Index for January is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.3% gain in December.

9:45 am EST

• The Preliminary Markit US Manufacturing PMI for March is estimated to rise to 55.5 versus 55.3 in February.

10:00 am EST

• The Leading Index for February is estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.0% gain in January.

11:00 am EST

• The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for March is estimated at 17.0 versus 17.0 in February.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Kashkari speaking, Bank of England rate decision, Eurozone Manufacturing PMI report, Australia Employment Change report, UK CPI report, Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for March, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the weekly EIA natural gas inventory report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are higher, boosted by financial and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.