Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.75% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 85.0 +1.75 basis points.

• China Sovereign CDS 39.75 -.25 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 61.29 -02%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 2,988.0 -21.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 23.9 +2.2%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.3%.

• S&P 500 futures -.28%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.39%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BJ)/.56
• (CSIQ)/.39
• (HRL)/.41
• (KSS)/-.12
• (MNRO)/.29
• (WOOF)/.09
• (RL)/-.71
• (PLCE)/-.21
  

After the Close:

• (AMAT)/1.51
• (DECK)/.62
• (FLO)/.39
• (PANW)/1.28
• (ROST)/.83
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Philly Fed Business Outlook for May is estimated to fall to 41.0 versus 50.2 in April.
• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 450K versus 473K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 3630K versus 3655K prior.
  

10:00 am EST

• The Leading Index for April is estimated to rise +1.3% versus a +1.3% gain in March.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The PBOC interest rate decision, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, (PLT) investor day and the (VMI) investor day could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

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