Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -1.0% to +.25% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 75.0 +.75 basis point. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 12.0 -.25 basis point
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 72.48 +.06%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.42%.
• S&P 500 futures -.03%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.04%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (AVP)/-.02
• (CAH)/1.51
• (CI)/3.42
• (HCP)/.46
• (ICE)/.88
• (K)/1.08
• (NSM)/.44
• (REGN)/4.37
• (SAGE)/-1.81
• (SEE)/.50
• (VMC)/.24
• (YRCW)/-.79
• (ATVI)/.35
• (ANET)/1.51
• (CBS)/1.18
• (LOCO)/.16
• (EOG)/1.00
• (FLR)/.74
• (OSTK)/-.87
• (SHAK)/.08
• (SWKS)/1.60
• (OLED)/.14
• (WING)/.20

Economic Releases

7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts  YoY for April.
  

8:30 am EST

• Preliminary 1Q Non-Farm Productivity is estimated to rise +.9% versus unch. in 4Q.
• Preliminary 1Q Unit Labor Costs are estimated to rise +3.0% versus a +2.5% gain in 4Q.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 225K versus 209K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1835K versus 1837K prior. 
• The Trade Deficit for March is estimated at -$50.0B versus -$57.6B in February.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China/Trump Admin. Meetings on Trade, Eurozone PPI report, China PPI report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the weekly EIA natural gas inventory report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by industrial and financial 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.