Indices
- Russell 2000 916.16 -.82%
- Value Line Geometric(broad market) 394.65 -1.07%
- Russell 1000 Growth 691.57 -.41%
- Russell 1000 Value 772.42 -.54%
- Morgan Stanley Consumer 925.0 +.97%
- Morgan Stanley Cyclical 1,116.87 -1.94%
- Morgan Stanley Technology 724.18 -.97%
- Transports 5,943.89 -.06%
- Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 96.27 -.77%
- MSCI Emerging Markets 43.47 -1.24%
- Lyxor L/S Equity Long Bias 1,131.29 +.45%
- Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias 841.86 +.80%
Sentiment/Internals
- NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 172,199 -1.0%
- Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index -97 -744
- Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 16.7 -60.5%
- CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 257,918 -5.48%
- CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,650,211 -.2%
- Total Put/Call .92 +4.55%
- OEX Put/Call 1.73 +203.51%
- ISE Sentiment 120.0 -6.25%
- Volatility(VIX) 14.17 +11.93%
- S&P 500 Implied Correlation 58.24 +.80%
- G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 9.59 +1.80%
- Smart Money Flow Index 11,256.37 -.89%
- Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.657 Trillion -.90%
Futures Spot Prices
- Reformulated Gasoline 308.88 -1.35%
- Heating Oil 311.25 -3.50%
- Bloomberg Base Metals Index 211.01 -4.88%
- US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 352.67 USD/Ton unch.
- China Iron Ore Spot 153.60 USD/Ton -.97%
- UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,532.32 +.35%
Economy
- ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 7.6% -80 basis points
- Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index .0969 -6.2%
- S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 113.56 +.14%
- Citi US Economic Surprise Index -4.80 -2.8 points
- Fed Fund Futures imply 56.0% chance of no change, 44.0% chance of 25 basis point cut on 3/20
- US Dollar Index 81.47 +1.29%
- Yield Curve 171.0 -2 basis points
- 10-Year US Treasury Yield 1.96% -4 basis points
- Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $3.077 Trillion +.67%
- U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 39.0 +.41%
- Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 146.0 +.69%
- Western Europe Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 100.55 +.90%
- Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 175.84 +2.96%
- Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 123.16 +1.13%
- Iraq Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 435.04 +2.36%
- China Blended Corporate Spread Index 379.0 -5 basis points
- 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.54% -1 basis point
- TED Spread 16.75 -2.75 basis points
- 2-Year Swap Spread 14.5 -1.0 basis point
- 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -19.75 -2.5 basis points
- N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 87.52 +1.23%
- European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 150.02 +5.64%
- Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 234.53 +1.10%
- CMBS Super Senior AAA 10-Year Treasury Spread 90.0 unch.
- M1 Money Supply $2.481 Trillion -.45%
- Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,062.90 -2.10%
- 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 360,800 +8,300
- Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 2.4% unch.
- Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 3.56% +3 basis points
- Weekly Mortgage Applications 782.40 -1.68%
- Bloomberg Consumer Comfort -33.4 +2.5 points
- Weekly Retail Sales +2.8% +40 basis points
- Nationwide Gas $3.78/gallon +.14/gallon
- Baltic Dry Index 737.0 -2.12%
- China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 1,152.47 +.69%
- Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 17.50 unch.
- Rail Freight Carloads 251,078 +2.62%
Best Performing Style
Worst Performing Style
Leading Sectors
Lagging Sectors
Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (22)
- NTSP, FFCH, LZB, RRGB, QCOR, BRY, AWAY, PCYC, SWY, SSNC, QLIK, TXRH, VNTV, SEE, SCBT, PEGA, THRM, OMX, CTL, BKW, JACK and MDP
Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (25)
- SKX, LAD, IART, APA, IPHS, TAL, TSLA, OC, AWI, BGS, IPI, GPI, FOR, TAHO, RP, NFX, VAC, DAKT, IPGP, PPO, ASGN, EBIX, LOGM, EHTH and PAY
Weekly Charts
ETFs
Stocks
*5-Day Change
Today's Market Take:
Broad Market Tone:
- Advance/Decline Line: Higher
- Sector Performance: Most Sectors Rising
- Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line
Equity Investor Angst:
- ISE Sentiment Index 112.0 +20.43%
- Total Put/Call .89 -19.09%
Credit Investor Angst:
- North American Investment Grade CDS Index 86.69 -1.95%
- European Financial Sector CDS Index 150.0 -.15%
- Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 100.55 -.62%
- Emerging Market CDS Index 234.87 -.82%
- 2-Year Swap Spread 14.50 -1 bp
- 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -19.75 -1.75 bps
Economic Gauges:
- 3-Month T-Bill Yield .12% unch.
- China Import Iron Ore Spot $153.60/Metric Tonne -1.66%
- Citi US Economic Surprise Index -4.80 -.1 point
- 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.54 +1 bp
Overseas Futures:
- Nikkei Futures: Indicating +115 open in Japan
- DAX Futures: Indicating +25 open in Germany
Portfolio:
- Slightly Higher: On gains in my tech/biotech/medical sector longs
- Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges
- Market Exposure: Moved to 50% Net Long
Bloomberg:
- EU Says Euro Area to Shrink in 2013 as Unemployment Rises. The euro-area economy will shrink in back-to-back years for
the first time, driving unemployment higher as governments, consumers
and companies curb spending, the European Commission said. Gross
domestic product in the 17-nation region will fall 0.3 percent this
year, compared with a November prediction of 0.1 percent growth, the
Brussels-based commission forecast today. Unemployment will climb to
12.2 percent, up from the previous estimate of 11.8 percent and 11.4
percent last year.
- ECB Says Banks to Repay Less Than Forecast of Second Loan. The European Central Bank said banks will repay only half the amount of emergency loans economists
forecast, indicating financial institutions remain wary of
lending to each other. Some 356 banks will hand back 61.1 billion euros ($80.5
billion) of the ECB’s second three-year loan on Feb. 27, the
first opportunity for early repayment, the central bank said in
a statement today. That compares with a forecast of 122.5
billion euros in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The euro
fell almost half a cent after the report to $1.3157.
- VW Forecasts 2013 Profit That Falls Short of Expectations.
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, forecast that 2013 operating
profit will match last year’s level, falling short of analysts’
estimates, as the shrinking auto market in its home region weighs on
earnings.
- China’s Stocks Post Biggest Weekly Loss in 20 Months on Property.
China’s stocks fell, dragging the
benchmark index to its steepest weekly loss in 20 months, as higher home
prices boosted concern the government will adopt tighter policies to
prevent asset bubbles. SAIC Motor Corp., the biggest automaker,
dropped 3.2 percent, adding to a five-day loss of 10 percent. China
Construction Bank Corp., the largest mortgage lender, led declines for
financial companies this week. A gauge of Shanghai property developers
posted its worst weekly loss since July. New home prices rose in most
cities the government tracked in January, government data showed today. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 0.5 percent to 2,314.16
at the close, adding to a 4.9 percent slump this week, the most
since May 2011.
- Hong Kong Doubles Stamp Duty on All Property on Bubble Risk. Hong Kong doubled
the sales tax on property costing more than HK$2 million ($258,000) and
targeted commercial real estate for the first time as bubble risks
spread from apartments to parking spaces, shops and hotels. The stamp duty will increase to 8.5 percent of the purchase price
for all properties, Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang said at a
briefing today. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also tightened mortgage
terms for commercial properties and parking spaces.
- Economists Warn Fed Risks Losing Control Amid Budget Deficits. Four
economists, including a former
Federal Reserve governor who has co-written research with
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, warned that losses from the central bank’s
more than $3 trillion balance sheet could lead to the Fed losing control
of monetary policy. “The combination of a massively expanded central bank
balance sheet and an unsustainable public debt trajectory is a
mix that has the potential to substantially reduce the
flexibility of monetary policy,” the economists write. “This
mix could induce a bias toward slower exit or easier policy, and
be seen as the first step toward fiscal dominance. It could
thereby be the cause of longer-term inflation expectations and
raise the risk of inflation overall.” The conclusion from economists, including Frederic Mishkin,
a governor at the central bank from 2006 to 2008 and an academic
collaborator with Bernanke before that, will be presented at the
U.S. Monetary Policy Forum in New York. Their paper serves as a high-profile warning to an audience including Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Fed Governor Jerome Powell and St.
Louis Fed President James Bullard.
- Gasoline Rally Seen Fueling U.S. Stock Losses: Chart of the Day. (graph)
- Aluminum Drops for Fifth Day as China Output Adds to Supplies. Aluminum
fell for a fifth straight day, the longest slump in two months, on
signs that increasing output in China will add to a global glut. Global
output increased 5.7 percent in January from a year earlier to 3.917
million metric tons, the International Aluminium Institute said Feb. 20.
Chinese production surged 16
percent, the IAI figures showed. Production exceeded demand by
419,400 tons last year, figures from the World Bureau of Metal
Statistics showed this week.
- Fattened Margins Seen Shrinking 40% at Banks: Mortgages.
Record mortgage profits that drove earnings at Wells Fargo & Co.
(WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) are fading as increased
competition keeps the rates banks are
offering on new loans near all-time lows. The amount that lenders make from packaging each loan into
securities and selling them to investors may be down as much as
40 percent from last quarter, Compass Point Research and Trading
LLC estimates, as banks absorb most of the costs of tumbling
bond prices.
CNBC:
- Italy Goes Down to the Wire as Nervous Investors Watch. Two of the four leading candidates in the Italian election are
convicted criminals. Such is the state of politics in this
highly-indebted country as Italians go to the polls this weekend to
choose a new government. Recent market action shows global investors are nervous about the outcome.
- Pimco's Gross: Fed Not Vigilant Enough. (video) Pimco Founder Bill Gross called out the Federal Reserve on its
vigilance in three major areas, during a CNBC interview on Friday. "I don't think the Fed is vigilant in terms of the negative aspects of zero-bound rates," Gross said in an appearance on "Squawk Box" with St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. "I don't think they're
vigilant in terms of other central banks and their quantitative easing
policies," he added. "I don't they're vigilant in terms of asset
prices."
- More States Consider to Ban Credit Card Surcharges.
- They Bailed On Their Homes - Now They Want Back In. Home sales are slowly climbing back, thanks to investor demand,
improving consumer confidence in housing, and the surprising return of
former homeowners who once walked away from their commitments. These
so-called, "strategic defaulters," some of them investors and some
owner-occupants, are coming back to the market, despite damaged credit,
and apparently the market is welcoming them back.
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
Reuters:
- Darden(DRI) warns on third-quarter profit, cuts FY forecast.Restaurant operator Darden Restaurants
Inc cut its full-year profit forecast for the third time
this year, as it expects a severe winter coupled with higher
payroll taxes and gasoline prices to hurt third-quarter
earnings. Darden's forecast underscores the pressure U.S. consumers
are facing due to the Jan. 1 expiration of a 2 percentage point
cut in payroll taxes, a delay in income tax refund payments and
a 30 cent increase in gasoline prices this year through last
week.
- METALS-Copper slides to two-month low on global economy concerns.
- Euro hits 6-week low as European bank repayments disappoint.
- Political problems await when Fed needs to reverse policy -Bullard. Political problems await the
U.S. Federal Reserve when it comes time to reverse its very
accommodative monetary policies, Federal Reserve Bank of St.
Louis President James Bullard said on Friday. "We're going to pay
interest on reserves to large banks in the U.S., and to foreign banks,
to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, at a time when we're not
going to pay anything back
to the U.S. Treasury," Bullard said in describing the part of
the Fed's planned strategy for the future. "That sounds like a recipe for political problems."
- Abercrombie(ANF) holiday sales down, gives soft forecast. Abercrombie & Fitch Co on Friday
reported a drop in comparable sales during the holiday quarter
on weakness at its overseas stores and in its Hollister chain,
and the youth retailer warned of a sluggish start to the new
fiscal year.
Shares were down 6.4 percent to $45.96 in midday trading.
- Brazil inflation cools less than expected in mid-February.
- Fed's Bullard-Policy to stay easy despite exit chatter. The U.S. Federal Reserve will keep its
monetary policy stance loose for a long while despite increasing
signs of concern among policymakers about the potential costs of
asset buying, a top Fed official said on Friday. "Fed policy is very easy and it's going to stay easy for a
long time," James Bullard, St. Louis Fed president, said in an
interview with CNBC television.
Telegraph:
- Eurozone to stay in recession for another year. Unemployment in Europe is "unacceptably high" and threatens "grave social
consequences", the European Commission has warned as it painted a gloomy
picture of the eurozone's troubled economy.
- France is a 'problem child', says Merkel ally. A leading member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said
France was a "problem child" in the eurozone and must scrap its
35-hour work week as well as push back its retirement age.
Style Underperformer:
Sector Underperformers:
- 1) Oil Tankers -1.31% 2) Coal -1.23% 3) Steel -.70%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
- INT, ANF, TV, BTU, SFY, NTT, MMSI, EBIX, VOLC, MRC, TRLA, AHS, NDSN, CEC, RNF, RAX, AGU, RWT, NCMI, SATS, BLMN, OFIX, TPC, CLGX, EQIX, AYR, MDCO, ELLI, CW and MRC
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
- 1) RDN 2) DRI 3) JWN 4) AIG 5) HPQ
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
- 1) CF 2) POT 3) INT 4) AGU 5) VOLC
Charts:
Style Outperformer:
Sector Outperformers:
- 1) Alt Energy +1.21% 2) Semis +1.13% 3) Computer Hardware +.89%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
- COG, CHTR, BBG, WBMD, AVG, ARUN, BLOX, PAY, FIRE, HPQ, RKUS, ONXX, HMSY, SPWR and JCP
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
- 1) AWAY 2) FTR 3) ARUN 4) FIRE 5) ODP
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
- 1) WBMD 2) ESV 3) V 4) MRVL 5) HPQ
Charts:
Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Monti’s Austerity Pushes Italians Toward Parliamentary Upheaval. Elisa Dalbosco says she lost her job
when it came time for her former employer, a refugee shelter in much,” said Dalbosco, who at 26 is now unemployed and poised to
vote for self-described populist Beppe Grillo in elections on
Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. Dalbasco’s disappointment shows why Italy is braced for its
biggest political upheaval since 1994. Dalbosco, whose ballot
five years ago went to an ally of front-runner Pier Luigi Bersani, won’t vote for anyone tied to incumbent Mario Monti
because she says his austerity policies in a shrinking economy
put the interests of banks ahead of everyone else’s.
- Spain’s Graft Scandals Reach Palace as King’s Adviser Testifies. The graft allegations roiling the
Spanish elite may edge closer to the head of state, King Juan Carlos, when his son-in-law and a senior palace official testify
in court on corruption charges. Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player married
to Princess Cristina, is due to answer questions in Mallorca
tomorrow as part of a private prosecution where he has been
named as an official suspect on six counts including fraud,
embezzlement and money laundering, a court spokeswoman said.
Magistrates on the tourist island will also question Carlos
Garcia Revenga, the princess’s personal secretary, who is also a
suspect, she said.
- Shanghai Composite Heads for Weekly Loss; Autos Lead Decline. China’s
benchmark stock index fell, heading for its steepest weekly loss in
five months. Automakers and metal shares slid, while consumer-staples
shares advanced. SAIC Motor Corp., the biggest automaker, climbed
2.2 percent, adding to a five-day loss of 9 percent. Chinese stocks
dropped this week on concern government policies to curb gains in
property prices may damp demand for autos, bank loans to construction
materials. New home prices rose in most cities the government tracks in
January, a government report today showed.
Kweichow Moutai Co. led a rally for liquor makers. The
Shanghai measure has dropped 4.4 percent this week, heading for
the biggest loss since September.
- China Home-Price Gains May Presage Policy Tightening: Economy. China’s
new home prices rose in most cities the government tracks for a third
month, adding pressure on leaders to intensify policy-tightening efforts
to prevent asset bubbles and inflation as the economy rebounds. Prices
climbed in January from December in 53 of the 70 cities, compared with
the previous month’s 54, which was the most since April 2011, according
to data today from the National Bureau of Statistics. Ten cities showed
declining prices and seven were unchanged.
- India Profit Growth Curbed by Slowing Economy, Kotak Says. India’s slowest economic expansion
in a decade is limiting profit growth at the biggest companies
even as foreigners remain net buyers of the nation’s stocks,
according to Kotak Institutional Equities. Earnings-per-share
(SENSEX) for the 30 companies making up the benchmark S&P Dow Jones
Sensex Index in the year ending March 31, 2014, will probably be 1,320
rupees, 2 percent below previous estimates, Sanjeev Prasad, co-head and
senior executive director at Kotak, said yesterday in Mumbai.
- CME(CME) Sued by CFTC for Disclosing Non-Public Information. CME
Group (CME) Inc., owner of the world’s largest futures exchange, and
two former employees were sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission for disclosing
material non-public information on customer trades. William Byrnes and Christopher Curtin, who worked for CME’s
New York Mercantile Exchange, broke the law by revealing
nonpublic information to an outside commodity broker between
February 2008 and September 2010, the CFTC said in a lawsuit
filed today in federal court in Manhattan.
- Massachusetts S&P Probe Said to Extend Into Post-Crisis Ratings. Standard & Poor’s practices for
rating commercial property bonds since the 2008 credit crisis
are under scrutiny by Massachusetts authorities, three people
familiar with the matter said. The scope of the probe by state Attorney General Martha Coakley extends beyond the securities and period that are the
subject of a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department against
New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos. and its S&P unit.
Wall Street Journal:
- Italian Voters Face Chances of Chaotic Results. When Italians head to the polls on Sunday for one of the country's
most globally watched elections in decades, Silvana Giorgetto and her
five million fellow undecided voters will have an important voice. The 61-year-old retired schoolteacher from the southern town of
Avellino has cast a ballot in every Italian election since she came of
voting age at 18. This time, she is at a loss. "We're all a bit
torn—everyone has been such a disappointment."
- Payroll Tax Whacks Spending. Firms Adjust as Resumption of Levy, Expensive Gas, Stagnant
Wages Bite Consumers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday joined a parade of retailers, restaurants
and consumer-goods companies worried about the economic impact of the recently
restored federal payroll tax that has left Americans with less money to
spend. The world's largest retailer, Burger King Worldwide Inc., Kraft Foods Group
Inc. and others are lowering forecasts and adjusting sales and marketing
strategies, expecting consumers with smaller paychecks to dine out less and
trade down to less expensive purchases.
- Citi(C) Awards CEO $11.5 Million in Pay. Citigroup Inc. C -2.01% awarded Chief Executive Michael Corbat $11.5 million for 2012, a year in which he took over the third-largest U.S. bank by assets in a surprise October shake-up and set plans to cut 11,000 jobs. The figure puts Mr. Corbat's compensation on par with that of James Dimon, chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase JPM -0.74% & Co. For 2012, net income was $7.54 billion at Citigroup and $21.3 billion at J.P. Morgan.
Fox News:
CNBC:
- Copper Uncoils as Economic Worries Stalk Markets.
Copper prices are unraveling as global economic uncertainty returns to
haunt risk assets. After an optimistic start to the year, Europe's recovery hopes were dashed by
weak manufacturing data; there are fears the U.S. sequestration will
undermine growth, and China is showing signs of weakness. And the
minutes from the last Federal Reserve policy setting meeting showed
divisions about when the central bank may start to wind down its
bond-buying program.
- Is This the Start of China's Tightening Cycle? "The very fact that the PBOC (People's Bank of China) conducted the
draining operation is a hawkish signal. Clearly, the central bank is
trying to send a message that it will not tolerate too easy liquidity
conditions," Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist, at
Credit Agricole CIB said.
- Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) Earnings, Outlook Top Forecasts.
Hewlett-Packard reported fiscal first quarter earnings and revenue
Thursday that exceeded analyst predictions. Shares of the world's
leading PC maker popped more than 6 percent after the closing bell,
following the news.
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
NY Times:
- The Rise of a Protest Movement Shows the Depth of Italy’s Disillusionment.
For months, he has been shouting his way from piazza to piazza, drawing
tens of thousands as he rails against tax collectors, corrupt
politicians and financial speculation. And when he arrives in Rome on
Friday for the final campaign rally of his “Tsunami tour,” Beppe Grillo,
the Internet-savvy comedian turned populist rabble-rouser, may lead
Italy’s third-most popular party.
Reuters:
- Bundesbank looks ahead to ECB "exit" as LTROs repaid. A bumper return of 3-year
loans to the ECB would boost the case for it exiting crisis
mode, a top Bundesbank official said ahead of Friday's news on
how much banks will hand back at a repayment window next week.
- GM(GM) pledges $7.3 bln investment in S.Korea unit. General Motors Co said it
would invest $7.3 billion in its South Korean unit over the next
five years -- an amount which will likely help relieve concerns
that the U.S. automaker was set to reduce its presence in the
country.
- Corzine avoids lifetime futures ban, for now -regulator. A key U.S futures-market regulator said on Thursday it will block Jon Corzine, the former chief executive of failed broker MF Global, from the industry unless he clears
an investigation into his fitness as a participant. However, the National Futures Association, which oversees
brokers and asset managers, rejected a proposed lifetime ban for
Corzine for now.
Financial Times:
- Brussels turns up pressure over Libor. The
commission can impose a maximum penalty equivalent to 10 per cent of a
company’s global turnover for each cartel it is found to be involved
with. A bank implicated in all three rate-fixing cases could, for
example, face fines of up to 30 per cent of total revenues.
Telegraph:
Economic Information Daily:
- China Ministries Consider Steps to Curb Overcapacity. China is considering measures to curb overcapacity and "blind expansion" by companies, including limits on energy consumption and differential power prices, citing a person familiar with the matter. The National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources and Ministry of Environment Protection will work together on the measures, according to the report.
Want China Times:
- Official austerity hits China's high-end catering business hard. High-end catering companies across China have seen a substantial drop
in business since the central government launched new rules to combat
extravagance, wastage and corruption in December, said Shen Danyang,
spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday at a press
conference. Restaurants and function centers in Beijing have seen a 35% decline
in revenue, those in Shanghai a 20% decline, and those in Ningbo in the
eastern province of Zhejiang, a 30% drop, according to a survey. Sales
of prestigious dishes including bird's nest and abalone also saw a 40%
fall during the Lunar New Year holiday, known locally as Spring
Festival. The sale of shark fin has fallen 70%. Luxury hotels have seen
a 45% drop in sales of their gift boxes and sales of premium spirits
including Moutai and Wuliangye have also been hit hard.
Evening Recommendations
Piper Jaffray:
- Rated (BRCM) Overweight, target $50.
Night Trading
- Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 109.5 +1.25 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 84.0 +1.5 basis points.
- NASDAQ 100 futures +.21%.
Morning Preview Links
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Economic Releases
Upcoming Splits
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's Powell speaking, German IFO/CPI data, Eurozone GDP and the EU economic forecasts could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by healthcare and consumer shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.
