Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Johnson Gets Boxed In Over Brexit With Election Only Way Out.

• EU Says U.K. Has Failed to Deliver New Proposals: Brexit Update.    

• China’s Private Bond Defaults Climb to Record $4.4 Billion.

• Asia Stocks, U.S. Futures Open Higher; Dollar Flat.  

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.   

• Fed Consumer Warning, Dudley Tries Again, Johnson Mess: Eco Day.

• Fed Officials Warn Consumer Is Alone in Carrying U.S. Economy.

• Why Apple Is Borrowing $7 Billion While Sitting on a $200 Billion Cash Pile.

• Fed Says Most Businesses Are Optimistic, Consumer Spending ‘Mixed’.

Wall Street Journal:

• U.K. Lawmakers Foil Johnson With Votes to Delay Brexit and Bar Snap Election.

• How U.S. Banks Took Over the World.

• Hurricane Dorian Churns Northward Toward Carolinas.

• The Biggest Bargains Among U.S. Colleges.

• Goldman Sachs’s Partnership Is Shrinking.

• Planned Parenthood to Expand Telemedicine Program.

Fox News:

• Hurricane Dorian’s death toll in Bahamas has more than doubled, official reveals.

MarketWatch.com:     

• Get ready for bigger home-price increases next year, except in these two states.

• Porsche just unveiled a huge threat to Tesla’s high-end electric crown.

CNBC:

• In a world of disappearing income, these stable stocks pay a high dividend yield.

• Slack plunges after posting first earnings report since going public.

• YouTube fine shows the US government is not serious about a Big Tech crackdown.

• Apple(AAPL) is borrowing in the bond market for the first time since US tax reform.

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Slack, Cloudera and Palo Alto Networks.

• Strength in tech stocks will keep driving S&P 500 higher, trader predicts.

• Mallinckrodt stock tanks after report it may consider bankruptcy amid wave of opioid lawsuits.

• Stocks could buck historical trend to turn out a September ‘surprise’, strategist says.

Zero Hedge:

• As China Settles In For A Long Trade War, Economic Pressure On Trump Continues To Grow.

• The Best And Worst Hedge Funds Of 2019: Momos On Rampage.

• 73% Of Republican Students Have Withheld Views In Class Fearing Grades Would Suffer.

• San Francisco Declares NRA 'Domestic Terrorist Organization'.

• This Is What Social Media Is Doing To Us...

• "The 2020s Will Begin With The Lowest Interest Rates In 5000 Years".

• Trump Says Dow "Would Be 10,000 Points Higher" If He Caved On Trade.

• WTI Tumbles After Surprise Crude Build.

• Traders Buy Everything As Uber-Dovish FedSpeak Sparks Dollar Dump.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.5% to +1.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 60.5 -3.75 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 43.75 -2.75 basis points.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index  65.53 -.01%.

• FTSE 100 futures +.05%.

• S&P 500 futures +.16%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.30%.

Morning Preview Links 

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (CIEN)/.58

• (DCI)/.61

• (GIII)/.22

• (JW/A)/.25

• (LE)/-.19

• (MDP)/1.58

• (SIG)/.24

After the Close:

• (ABM)/.58

• (DOCU)/.04

• (KFY)/.77

• (LULU)/.89

• (NX)/.36

• (ZUMZ)/.19

Economic Releases
7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts YoY for Aug.
  

8:15 am EST

• ADP Employment Change for Aug. is estimated to fall to 148K versus 156K in July.

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated at 215K versus 215K the prior week.

• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1688K versus 1698K prior.
  

10:00 am EST

• Factory Orders for July are estimated to rise +1.0% versus a +.6% gain in June.

• ISM Non-Manufacturing for August is estimated to rise to 54.0 versus 53.7 in July.
  

11:00 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -2,567,380 barrels versus a -10,027,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -1,508,500 barrels versus a -2,090,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to rise by +5,170 barrels versus a -2,063,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to fall by -.29% versus a -.7% decline prior.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The German Factory Orders report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, Morgan Stanley Industrials Conference, (RS) investor day and the (BKE)/(COST)/(CATO) monthly sales updates could also impact trading today.

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