Wednesday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -1.0% to -.25% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 75.0 -.5 basis point. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 12.25 -.25 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 71.05 -.35%.
• FTSE 100 futures -.52%.
• S&P 500 futures -.25%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.50%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Before the Open:

• (CTRN)/.90
• (LOW)/1.21
• (RL)/.83
• (TGT)/1.39
• (TIF)/.83

After the Close:

• (CPRT)/.49
• (LB)/.15
• (NTAP)/1.01
• (SNPS)/1.08
• (WSM)/.58

Economic Releases
9:45 am EST

• The Preliminary Markit US Manufacturing PMI report for May is estimated at 56.5 versus 56.5 in April.
• The Preliminary Markit US Services PMI report for May is estimated to rise to 55.0 versus 54.6 in April.

10:00 am EST

• New Home Sales for April is estimated to fall to 679K versus 694K in March.
  

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -1,908,100 barrels versus a -1,404,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -1,451,000 barrels versus a -3,790,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -1,186,110 barrels versus a -92,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.48% versus a +.7% gain the prior week.
  

2:00 pm EST

• The May 2 FOMC Meeting Minutes.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Eurozone PMI report, UK Retail Sales/Inflation Data report, $36B 5Y T-Note auction, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, Barclays Construction/Infrastructure Conference, Jefferies Automotive Aftermarket Conference, (HUN) investor day, (PCAR) investor conference, (TMO) analyst meeting, (PLAB) investor event and the (WFC) Financial Services Forum could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.