Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

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

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 120.25 -7.5 basis points. 

• China Sovereign CDS  73.75 -6.75 basis points.
  

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 52.16 +.13%.  
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 3,894.0 +17.0 points.
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 28.3 -.8%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures +.35%.

• S&P 500 futures +.15%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.07%. 

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate 

 

Before the Open: 

• (BABA)/7.17
• (AMWD)/1.34
• (BIDU)/5.58
• (BURL)/.63
• (DG)/2.32
• (DLTR)/1.98
• (JACK)/1.37
• (M)/.83
• (MDT)/1.56
• (SAFM)/7.42
• (TITN)/.53
• (TD)/1.93
  

After the Close:

• (AEO)/.25
• (ADSK)/1.34
• (COST)/3.02
• (DELL)/1.39
• (GPS)/-.13
• (MRVL)/.51
• (OLLI)/.31
• (RRGB)/-.73
• (ULTA)/4.49
• (VMW)/1.56
• (WDAY)/.85
• (ZS)/.11
  

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 215K versus 218K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1310K versus 1317K prior.
  

10:00 am EST

• Pending Home Sales MoM for April is estimated to fall -2.0% versus a -1.2% decline in March.

11:00 am EST

• The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for May is estimated to fall to 18.0 versus 25.0 in April.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Japan CPI report, 7Y T-Note auction, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the (DE) analyst day could also impact global trading today.

US Equity Market Hours

• 9:30 am - 4:00 pm EST
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by consumer and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.