Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Scandal Threatens to Derail Abe’s Economic Agenda. The Japanese government’s plans for the economy -- an area of stability -- have been thrown into disarray by a cronyism scandal. The controversy stemming from the sale of land to an educational institution with ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe threatens to derail March’s crowded policy calendar. Opposition parties are boycotting hearings on the budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, parliament has yet to confirm the Bank of Japan’s new leadership team, and the finance minister’s trip next week to a Group of 20 meeting in Argentina is in doubt.
- Asia Stocks Drop Amid Trump Team Concerns, Trade. U.S. Treasuries held gains from Tuesday after a report showed U.S. inflation remained contained. Equity indexes in Japan, South Korea and Australia declined after the S&P 500 Index lost 0.6 percent. The sudden firing of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took some by surprise less than a week after top economic adviser Gary Cohn resigned from the White House. The dollar was little changed, while West Texas oil was holding above $60. Japan’s Topix index fell 0.4 percent as of 9:56 a.m. in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.7 percent. Hang Seng Index futures slipped 0.7 percent. S&P 500 Index futures fell 0.1 percent after the underlying gauge dropped 0.6 percent Tuesday.
Wall Street Journal:
- Pompeo’s Promise at State. Trump gets a top diplomat who shares his policy views.
- Donald Trump Looks at Wall Prototypes in California, Attacks Gov. Jerry Brown. President makes his first visit to the most populous state, which he lost by some four million votes.
- Ten Years After the Bear Stearns Bailout, Nobody Thinks It Would Happen Again. Key players have spent the last decade arguing about what was done, defending past decisions and wondering how such a crisis would play out today.
- Gina Haspel, Nominee for CIA, to Face Questions Over Interrogation Techniques. Career intelligence officer would be first woman to lead spy agency.
- Rex Tillerson Is Out as Secretary of State; Donald Trump Taps Mike Pompeo. Gina Haspel will be nominated to lead the CIA.
Fox News:
CNBC:
Zero Hedge:
Night Trading
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- Asian equity indices are -1.0% to -.25% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 65.0 +.5 basis point.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 11.0 unch.
- Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 75.45 +.04%.
- FTSE 100 futures -.27%.
- S&P 500 futures -.22%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.47%.
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (EXPR)/.32
- (SHLD)/1.16
- (SIG)/4.20
- (DDD)/.03
- (CTRP)/.16
- (SMTC)/.41
- (TDW)/-.72
- (WSM)/1.61
8:30 am EST
- Retail Sales Advance MoM for February is estimated to rise +.3% versus a -.3% decline in January.
- Retail Sales Ex Autos MoM for February is estimated to rise +.4% versus unch. in January.
- Retail Sales Ex Autos and Gas for February is estimated to rise +.4% versus a -.2% decline in January.
- PPI Final Demand MoM for February is estimated to rise +.1% versus a +.4% gain in January.
- PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for February is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.4% gain in January.
- Business Inventories for January are estimated to rise +.6% versus a +.4% gain in December.
- Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory gain of +2,231,440 barrels versus a
+2,408,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated
to fall by -452,890 barrels versus a -788,000 barrel decline the prior
week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,558,110 barrels
versus a -559,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery
Utilization is estimated to fall by -.12% versus a +.2% gain prior.
- (AFL) 2-for-1
Other Potential Market Movers
- The China Retail Sales/Industrial Production report, Eurozone Industrial Production/CPI reports and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report could also impact trading today.
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