Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:    
  • Asian Stocks Climb as Tech Rises; Dollar Steadies. South Korean shares led gains across the region after earnings at Samsung Electronics Co. topped estimates on booming exports of memory chips. Better-than-expected sales at Facebook Inc. lifted its shares in after-hours trading and gave a boost to U.S. stock futures. The euro edged higher ahead of Thursday’s European Central Bank rate decision. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dipped to 3.02 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.3 percent as of 10:20 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan’s Topix index gained 0.2 percent. Futures on the S&P 500 Index added 0.3 percent after the cash market shut 0.2 percent higher on Wednesday. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.8 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.2 percent and Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.6 percent. Kospi index climbs 1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.2 percent
Business Insider:
Night Trading 
  • Asian equity indices are -.5% to +.5% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 76.25 -.75 basis point
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 12.75+.75 basis point
  • Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 73.42 +.01%.
  • FTSE 100 futures +.29%.
  • S&P 500 futures +.26%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures +.69%.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

  • (AAN)/.93
  • (ABBV)/1.79
  • (AB)/.66
  • (MO)/.91
  • (AAL)/.71
  • (BAX)/.62
  • (BLMN)/.58
  • (BMY)/.85
  • (BC)/.94
  • (COP)/.74
  • (DPZ)/1.77
  • (DHI)/.86
  • (FCAU)/.70
  • (GM)/1.27
  • (HLT)/.51
  • (ITW)/1.86
  • (IP)/.89
  • (LEA)/4.91
  • (MGM)/.30
  • (NEM)/.33
  • (PEP)/.93
  • (RCL)/.97
  • (LUV)/.74
  • (TWX)/1.74
  • (TSCO)/.57
  • (UPS)/1.54
  • (VLO)/.93
  • (VC)/1.79
  • (ZBH)/1.89
  • (AMZN)/1.22
  • (BIDU)/1.71
  • (FSLR)/-.09
  • (INTC)/.72
  • (KLAC)/1.99
  • (MSFT)/.85
  • (MHK)/3.00
  • (SBUX)/.53
  • (X)/.30
  • (WDC)/3.31
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
  • Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 230K versus 232K the prior week.
  • Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1850K versus 1863K prior.
  • Preliminary Wholesale Inventories MoM for March are estimated to rise +.7% versus a +1.0% gain in February.
  • Preliminary Durable Goods Orders for March are estimated to rise +1.6% versus a +3.0% gain in February.
  • Preliminary Durables Ex Transports for March are estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.0% gain in February.
  • Preliminary Cap Goods Orders Non-Defense Ex-Air for March are estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.4% gain in February.
11:00 am EST
  • The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for April is estimated at 17.0 versus 17.0 in March.
Upcoming Splits
  • None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The ECB rate decision, ECB press conference, Japan Industrial Production/CPI reports, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the $29B 7Y T-Note auction 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 modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.

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