Wednesday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 71.75 unch.

• China Sovereign CDS 48.5 -2.75 basis points.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 66.03 -.09%.

• S&P 500 futures -.11%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.06%.

Morning Preview Links 

Earnings of Note 

Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (BABA)/6.51

• (M)/.34

• (RUBY)/-.41

• (PLCE)/-.54

• (TSG)/.44

After the Close:

• (CSCO)/.77

• (FLO)/.30

• (JACK)/.93

• (KHC)/.61

• (NTES)/2.48

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Empire Manufacturing for May is estimated to fall to 8.0 versus 10.1 in April.

• Retail Sales Advance MoM for April is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +1.6% gain in March.

• Retail Sales Ex Autos MoM for April is estimated to rise +.7% versus a +1.2% gain in March. 

• Retail Sales Ex Autos and Gas for April is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.9% gain in March.
  

9:15 am EST

• Industrial Production MoM for April is estimated unch. versus a -.1% decline in March.

• Manufacturing Production for April is estimated unch. versus unch. in March.

• Capacity Utilization for April is estimated to fall to 78.7% versus 78.8% in March.

10:00 am EST

• The NAHB Housing Market Index for May is estimated to rise to 64.0 versus 63.0 in April.

• Business Inventories for March is estimated unch. versus a +.3% gain in Feb.

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory gain of +29,000 barrels versus a -3,963,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -439,500 barrels versus a -596,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall by -613,700 barrels versus a -159,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.57% versus a -.3% decline prior.
  

Afternoon:

• Net Long-Term TIC Flows for March.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Barkin speaking, Fed's Quarles speaking, Senate Hearing with Steve Mnuchin, China Industrial Profits/Retail Sales reports, Eurozone GDP report, House Transport/Infra Committee hearing on (BA) 737 Max, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, Goldman Industrials/Materials Conference,  could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are slightly higher, boosted by technology 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.