Stocks Finish Modestly Lower on Fed Rate Hike Worries, Earnings Concerns, Euro Weakness, Tech/Transport Sector Weakness

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Modestly Lower
  

• Sector Performance: Most Sectors Declining
  

• Volume: Around Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 15.8 +7.0%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 135.44 -.04%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.57 +1.93%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 63.71 -1.34%

• ISE Sentiment Index 66.0 -8.33%

• Total Put/Call .97 -.3%

• NYSE Arms 1.25 +13.84% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 64.49 +.29%
• America Energy Sector High-Yield CDS Index 1,014.0 -.20%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 67.09 -.57%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 22.90 +1.64%
• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt CDS Index 61.31 -.01%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 317.73 +.79%
  

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporates High Yield Index 114.19 +.08%
• 2-Year Swap Spread 24.0 -2.25 basis points

• TED Spread 25.0 +1.5 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -23.25 +.5 basis point

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .03% unch.

• Yield Curve 138.0 +6.0 basis points

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $55.36/Metric Tonne -.39%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -60.0 +1.9 points
• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 52.30 -.8 point

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -3.2 +.4 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.81 +1.0 basis point

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei Futures: Indicating -101 open in Japan

• DAX Futures: Indicating +33 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Slightly Lower: On losses in my medical/tech sector longs

• Disclosed Trades: Added to my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges

• Market Exposure: Moved to 25% Net Long

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

• Small-Cap Growth -.62%

Sector Underperformers:

• 1) Coal -3.65% 2) Semis -2.73% 3) Road & Rail -1.33%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• SCMP, WGO, SNDK, ASML, FRSH, WRLD, IBB, SGNT, CLDN, BIB, ENVA, SWKS, NEWT, CBMG, LRCX, SOXX, ZSPH, KITE, SWAY, MTSI, NXPI, CSH, JMEI, TSU, PTCT, UVE, ACAD, TGTX, ISIS, CSH, SWFT, SRNE, PTCT, DVAX, EPZM, SWKS, FRGI, CLDN, AFFX, ZLTQ, EXAS, INSM, MTSI, BDSI, RARE, AAVL and ENVA
  

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

• 1) AMD 2) CCL 3) SNDK 4) DHI 5) DAL
  

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:

• 1) UNP 2) APOL 3) X 4) UPS 5) PBR
  

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume

• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Large-Cap Growth -.32%

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Gold & Silver +1.28% 2) Computer Services +.59% 3) Oil Service +.33%
  

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

• DPLO, FIVE, RHT, ACN and ROVI

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

• 1) FIVE 2) SGYP 3) IDCC 4) DG 5) QRVO
  

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:

• 1) RHT 2) CBI 3) SCHW 4) GRPO 5) DPS
  

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume 

• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines 
Bloomberg:

• Saudi Arabia, Gulf Allies Starts Bombing Houthi Targets in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies started bombing Shiite Houthi targets in Yemen Thursday, the Saudi ambassador to Washington said. The allies launched “the military operations in support of the people of Yemen and their legitimate government,” Ambassador Adel al-Jubair said in a statement. The military strikes were started after an “appeal” from Yemen’s President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered the airstrikes at midnight local time, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television reported. The bombing campaign comes after forces loyal to the rebel group marched on Aden, the stronghold of the internationally recognized President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi in the southern port city of Aden. Hadi has left his residence in the city, Mohammed Hadi, an aide, said. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has accused Iran of fomenting unrest in Yemen. 

• Yemen Government’s Fall Is Another Blow to Obama’s War on Terror. Escalating chaos in Yemen threatens the Obama administration’s ability to combat the al-Qaeda affiliate that’s most intent on attacking the U.S. and its allies. It was only last June that President Barack Obama singled out Yemen as a model for U.S. efforts to fight terrorism by relying on training allied forces rather than risk American lives. Now the fall of the government and the turmoil there further imperil his signature antiterrorist strategies, which also are facing difficulties in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere. “This is bad for counterterrorism,” said Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department antiterrorism adviser. “There’s no question there will be an effect on intelligence-gathering -- and a significant one.”  

• A Murky, Sloppy Muddle: How Greece’s Exit From Euro Could Happen. With the fight to keep Greece in the euro now in its sixth year, everyone is running out of patience. More importantly, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in Athens is running out of money. While bond yields suggest investors expect Greece to stay in the euro, economists such as UniCredit Bank AG’s Erik Nielsen say it may be just a matter of time before he’s forced to print a new currency. Adopting the euro was always supposed to be a one-way ticket, so there is no legal precedent or political roadmap for an exit. If you’re waiting for a formal announcement of a clear resolution, you may be waiting a long time.  

• China Bulls Adopt Price-to-Whatever Ratio as Equities Surge. The signs of a Chinese equity bubble are visible just about everywhere Hao Hong looks. The chief China strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. points to soaring price-to-earnings ratios, the shrinking yield advantage that stocks offer over bonds and the fact that mainland-listed equities now trade at a 34 percent premium over nearly identical shares in Hong Kong. So what’s Hong’s advice to investors? Keep buying, of course.

• Currency War Is Now a Dud as Windfall From Devaluations Vanishes. Currency wars, it turns out, may not be worth fighting right now. While weaker exchange rates have at times throughout history helped stoke economic growth by making countries’ exports cheaper, the benefits are becoming hard to find. Nowhere is this more apparent than in developing nations, where currencies have slumped 24 percent on average against the dollar since 2011. Yet despite this, their annual export growth rate has actually slowed to 4 percent in the past four years from 8 percent during the previous decade, according to the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. In Brazil, the real’s 48 percent plunge since 2011 has done little to revive an economy heading for its worst performance in 25 years.  

• Tech Stock Selloff Continues in Asia; Oil Jumps on Yemen. Asian shares dropped the most in eight weeks, led by technology shares after the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled in the U.S. Oil advanced after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies started bombing targets in Yemen. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 1.2 percent by 11 a.m. in Tokyo, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Apple Inc. supplier AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. tumbled at least 3 percent. Japan’s Topix gauge fell the most since Jan. 6. 

• Oil Rises on Mideast Disruption Risk as Saudi Arabia Bombs Yemen. Oil erased losses to rise for a fifth day in New York as Saudi Arabia said it started bombing rebel targets in Yemen with its allies. Futures gained as much as 1.4 percent to trade near $50 a barrel, the highest intraday price since March 10. King Salman ordered the airstrikes against Shiite Houthi positions after an “appeal” from Yemen’s President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubair said in Washington. Prices slid earlier on Thursday after a U.S. government report showed crude inventories and production swelling further last week to the most in more than three decades.

• The Fed Still Needs to Figure Out How to Raise Rates. For all the talk about when Federal Reserve policy makers are going to raise interest rates, they haven’t quite figured out how to do it. The central bank has had trouble controlling near-term borrowing costs since the 2008 financial crisis and has been experimenting with ways to do so. While its main new tool has enabled the Fed to exert more influence over money-market rates in the past year, strategists from Barclays Plc to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. say the program is too small to prevent rates from falling when officials want them to climb. At issue is the Fed’s balance sheet, which has ballooned through its bond buying, leaving over $2 trillion in excess reserves in the banking system that may prove to be more difficult to siphon off than in the past. New methods are needed because the federal funds rate, long the central bank’s primary policy instrument, has ceased to be an effective means to guide short-term market rates.

• Apple(AAPL) Plans China IPhone Trade-In Program With Foxconn. Apple Inc. plans to introduce a trade-in program for iPhones in China, people familiar with the effort said, after a similar program bolstered sales in the U.S.

Wall Street Journal: 

• Saudi Arabia Launches Military Operations in Yemen. Saudi ambassador to U.S. says 10 countries participating in operations. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations launched airstrikes against Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital San’a in defense of what the Riyadh government called the country’s legitimate government. The airstrikes began hours after the country’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was forced to flee the southern port city of Aden by boat after...

• Iran Stalls U.N. Probe Into Its Atomic Past. Talks over Iran’s nuclear program have hit a stumbling block because Tehran has failed to cooperate with a United Nations probe into whether it tried to build atomic weapons in the past. Talks over Iran’s nuclear program have hit a stumbling block a week before a key deadline because Tehran has failed to cooperate with a United Nations probe into whether it tried to build atomic weapons in the past, say people close to the negotiations. In response, these people say, the U.S. and its diplomatic partners are revising their demands on Iran to address these concerns before they agree to finalize a...

• Buyout Firms Feel Pinch From Lending Crackdown. Regulatory guidance that seeks to limit the use of borrowed money in takeovers has hampered the business of debt-laden acquisitions. An effort by regulators to deter banks from financing takeovers with high levels of debt has dealt a blow to the private-equity industry. After resisting at first, banks have lately been falling in line with guidance regulators set in 2013, which sought to limit how much debt banks could extend for corporate takeovers. The shift is now stinging private-equity firms, whose bread-and-butter business is debt-laden buyouts.

• The Bergdahl Desertion. Obama wanted to ‘whittle away’ the killers at Guantanamo. The United States Army intends to charge Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. That was Wednesday’s news, but the bigger story is the extravagant price the U.S. has paid because President Obama wanted to score political points.

• Obama’s Mideast Realignment. His new doctrine: Downgrade ties to Israel and the Saudis while letting Iran fill the vacuum left by U.S. retreat. Let’s connect the dots. Data point No. 1: President Obama withdrew U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011 and is preparing to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2016, even while keeping a few more troops there this year and next than originally planned. Point No. 2: The Obama administration keeps largely silent about Iran’s power grab in...

Fox News:

• Bergdahl charged with desertion, could face life in prison. (video) Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban after abandoning his post in Afghanistan and then freed five years later in a controversial trade for five Guantanamo detainees, was charged Wednesday with desertion. U.S. Army Forces Command announced the decision at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

MarketWatch.com:

• Why more U.S. colleges will go under in the next few years.

CNBC: 

• Biotechs could be the early warning for stocks. Traders are watching small caps and the biotech sector Thursday to see whether they continue to melt down, as the harbinger of a deeper selloff in the broader market.

• Things that will happen if Venezuela implodes. An economic implosion is becoming increasingly likely in Venezuela, and the country's debtholders, trade partners and neighbors are bracing for the fallout.

Zero Hedge:

• BofA's Modest Proposal For Greece: "A Negative Shock May Be Necessary".

• Biotech Bloodbath Sparks Selling Scramble In Stocks. (graph)

• Soldier Exchanged By Obama For 5 Taliban Captives Charged With Desertion.

• Pay Attention To The Warning Signs. (graph)

• Don't Show Janet Yellen These 3 Charts. (graph)

• Brazil Confidence Plummets To Record Low As Central Bank Admits Currency War Defeat. (graph)

• Japanese Stocks Could See Repeat Of 2013 Plunge. (graph)

• "Danger, Will Robinson!" (graph)

• Fortescue Has An Idea For Arresting Iron Ore Price Slide: Start A Cartel. 

• Bank Of Japan's 10 Trillion Equity Portfolio "Not Large" Says Bank Of Japan.

• Montreal Students Clash With Riot Police In Austerity Protests. (pic)

• The Fed's Artificial Steepening Of The Yield Curve. (graph)

Business Insider:

• In 6 years, Mexico's auto production will make up more than 25% of the North American market.

• Everyone at the Secret Service wants to know who's leaking damaging stories to the Washington Post. 

• Hillary Clinton's brother linked to alleged political favors.

• Senior military official: A pilot on the Germanwings flight that crashed was locked out of the cockpit.

• HOWARD MARKS: Liquidity is not how easily you can sell something, but what price you get when you're forced to.

LA Times:

• Iran-backed rebels in Yemen loot secret files about U.S. spy operations. Secret intelligence files held by Yemeni security forces and containing details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism operations, U.S. officials say.

Evening Recommendations 

• None of note

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -1.0% to unch. on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 113.0 +1.0 basis point.

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 61.75 +1.25 basis points.

• S&P 500 futures +.04%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures unch.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (ACN)/1.07

• (CMC)/.19

• (CAG)/.52

• (FRED)/.01

• (LULU)/.73

• (SCHL)/-.56

• (SIG)/3.03

• (WGO)/.38

• (AIR)/.37

• (GME)/2.17

• (OXM)1.02

• (RH)/1.01 

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to fall to 290K versus 291K the prior week. 

• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2400K versus 2417K prior.

9:45 am EST

• Preliminary Markit US Services PMI for March is estimated to fall to 57.0 versus 57.1 in February.

11:00 am EST

• Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity for March is estimated at 1.0 versus 1.0 in February.

 Upcoming Splits

• (MGA) 2-for-1

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Bullard speaking, Fed's Lockhart speaking, German GFK data, Japan CPI, $29B 7Y T-Note auction, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, CIBC Retail/Consumer Conference, (CIEN) annual meeting, Johnson Rice Oilfield Services Conference, (SRE) analyst conference and the (PLAB) investor day could also impact trading today.

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

Stocks Falling Substantially into Final Hour on Global Growth Fears, Earnings Worries, Technical Selling, Biotech/Tech Sector Weakness

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Substantially Lower
  

• Sector Performance: Most Sectors Declining
  

• Volume: Slightly Above Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Underperforming

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 14.76 +8.37%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 136.97 +.23%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.33 +.39%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 64.64 +2.70%

• ISE Sentiment Index 80.0 +3.90%

• Total Put/Call .99 -2.94%

• NYSE Arms .94 -38.40% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 64.10 +2.09%
• America Energy Sector High-Yield CDS Index 1,023.0 +.69%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 67.85 -.27%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 22.53 -.40%
• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt CDS Index 61.32 +1.49%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 316.03 +1.32%
  

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporates High Yield Index 114.10 +.06%
• 2-Year Swap Spread 26.25 -1.0 basis point

• TED Spread 23.5 -2.25 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -23.75 unch.

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .03% +1.0 basis point

• Yield Curve 132.0 +1.0 basis points

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $55.81/Metric Tonne -.09%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -61.90 -4.1 points
• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 53.10 +2.1 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -3.6 -4.3 points

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.80 +3.0 basis points

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei Futures: Indicating -166 open in Japan

• DAX Futures: Indicating +27 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Slightly Higher: On gains in my index hedges and emerging markets shorts

• Disclosed Trades: None

• Market Exposure: 25% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Euro Area Said to Give Greece Five Days to Deliver Plan. (video) Greece has until Monday to show how it will follow through on reform commitments after the euro area ruled out speedy access to aid funds, three officials said following a conference call of finance ministry deputies. The currency bloc left the door open for Greece to access 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) that has been allocated to aid the banking system, if the cash-strapped nation can show how it will move ahead with the changes that its creditors are seeking. At the same time, the euro zone’s other 18 members were adamant that Greece needs to deliver specific plans to see any more bailout cash, the officials said.  
• Ukraine Bonds Drop as Moody’s Adds to Default Concern Amid Talks. Ukraine’s Eurobond fell for a third day after Moody’s Investors Service warned that the risk the country will default on its debt is almost certain. The bonds dropped to a record 38.03 cents on the dollar on Wednesday after Moody’s lowered the nation’s credit rating by one step to Ca, the second-lowest level and on par with Argentina. Ukrainian debt has handed investors losses of 30 percent this quarter, the worst among 59 emerging-market peers, as investors speculated the former soviet republic’s creditors will be forced to accept steep writedowns. 
• Estonia Must Counter ‘Hostile’ Russian Propaganda, Adviser Says. Estonia’s plans for a Russian-language television channel will seek to counter propaganda from the regime of President Vladimir Putin amid tensions over the Kremlin’s intentions in the Baltic region, according to a government adviser.
• Sputtering Emerging Markets Threaten Next Global Deflation Shock. The momentum is fading. The cooling of emerging markets runs the risk of chilling the global economy. The world’s growth engines after the 2008 financial crisis, emerging markets are losing momentum as manufacturing in China contracts and recessions loom in Brazil and Russia. At Credit Suisse Group AG, economists predict the expansion of developing countries will slow to 3.8 percent this year, the weakest since 2009. By contrast, they see a 2.2 percent pace in industrial nations, the strongest in five years.
• Saudi Stocks Decline Most in World as Rebels in Yemen Advance. Saudi Arabian stocks dropped the most in more than three months, leading regional markets lower, after forces loyal to Yemen’s Shiite Muslim rebels edged closer to the stronghold of Saudi-backed President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi. The Tadawul All Share Index was the world’s worst performer among more than 90 measures tracked by Bloomberg after it fell 5 percent to close at 8,868.12, the steepest loss since Dec. 16. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, a gauge of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s top 200 equities, also dropped the most in more than three months. Forces loyal to the president collapsed as rebels moved deeper into the south toward the port city of Aden. Violence in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country is threatening to turn into a civil war, raising concerns that neighbors including Saudi Arabia may be drawn into the conflict.
• Brazil Real Drops as Central Bank Plans to Pare Back Support. Brazil’s real dropped after the central bank said it will scale back support for the currency. The real lost 0.4 percent to 3.1521 per dollar at 11:26 a.m. in Sao Paulo, extending its run as the worst performing major currency this year. The real has lost 16 percent against the dollar on concern that weakening fiscal accounts will cause the country to lose its investment-grade credit rating. Officials will stop swap auctions that had bolstered the currency at the end of this month, the central bank said in a statement Tuesday.
• Emerging-Market Stocks Halt Seven-Day Advance as China Retreats. Emerging-market stocks ended their longest rally in seven months amid concern slowing growth in China is hurting corporate earnings and South Africa may raise interest rates this year. Shares in Shanghai fell for the first time in 11 days, ending the longest winning streak in 23 years. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent, after a 10-day, 12 percent rally, the longest winning streak since May 1992.
• Europe Stocks Post Worst Drop in Two Months After Nearing Record. European stocks posted their worst drop in more than two months, after nearing a record on Tuesday. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 1.1 percent to 397.95 at the close of trading, as all but two of 19 industry groups slid. Technology shares posted the worst performance, extending losses as U.S. peers also fell. ARM Holdings Plc and ASML Holding NV lost more than 5.5 percent. Europe’s benchmark gauge closed 0.7 percent away from its 2000 record on Tuesday, up 18 percent for the year amid European Central Bank stimulus. That pushed the Stoxx 600 to the highest valuation based on projected profits in at least 10 years, relative to its own history and to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, data show. 
• Oil Rises After U.S. Crude Output Gain Shrinks, Dollar Slips. Oil rose to a two-week high in New York as the shrinking size of U.S. crude production gains and a falling dollar outweighed rising supply. U.S. crude production rose 3,000 barrels a day to 9.42 million in the seven days ended March 20, the Energy Information Administration said. The smallest increase since January left output at the highest level in more than three decades. Prices retreated initially as the report showed that crude supplies increased 8.17 million barrels to 466.7 million last week, the most in records compiled since August 1982. U.S. oil explorers sidelined 41 drilling rigs last week, the smallest drop in three weeks and down from the average 59-rig weekly decline in February, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.
• Strong Dollar Hurting U.S. Steel Mills as Imports Flood Market. The U.S. economic recovery is gaining steam and the dollar has surged. That’s bad news for the $100 billion domestic steel industry. Foreign competitors with weaker currencies pay less to produce the metal. That’s allowing them to undercut U.S. steelmakers in their own backyard as demand wanes in China, Russia and Brazil. The result: the amount of imported steel used in the U.S. has swelled in the first two months of 2015 to 33 percent from 28 percent in 2014, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. At the same time, idled production capacity at U.S. mills has grown to 31 percent, the highest since 2009. 
• Gold Heads for Longest Rally Since 2012 on Interest Rate Outlook. Gold headed for its longest rally since August 2012 as signs of sputtering U.S. economic expansion fueled bets that interest rates will stay low for longer. Spot prices climbed for a sixth straight session, rising every day since Federal Reserve policy makers cut their projections for growth and suggested they aren’t in a hurry to raise borrowing costs. Higher rates usually send investors to assets with better yield prospects such as equities and bonds.

Wall Street Journal:

• Boko Haram Abducts More Than 400 People, Says Nigerian Lawmaker. Islamist extremists fleeing international military offensive aimed at recapturing northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram militants have abducted more than 400 people—most of them women and children—in recent weeks as the Islamist extremists have fled an international military offensive aimed at recapturing northeast Nigeria, a Nigerian lawmaker said Wednesday. The militants have seized residents of the northeastern town of Damasak and its surrounding villages since January, Nigerian Senator Maina Ma’aji Lawan said. Mr. Lawan, who represents the region, said more than 70 women were taken from his hometown of Baga alone.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Stocks are overpriced, overleveraged, headed for trouble. Office of Financial Research: high valuations and high debt levels pose risks.

CNBC: 

• Something's troubling about the market: Trader. (video) Todd Gordon of Tradinganalysis.com said that a looming Fed rate hike and the "sell in May and go away" adage could bring some sharp moves into the market.
• Analyst dares to say 'sell' Tesla's(TSLA) cult stock.

ZeroHedge: 

• Is This What's Causing Today's Market Puke? (graph)
• US-Armed Rebels Force Yemen President To Flee Country As Saudis Prepare For War.
• Some Folks At The Fed Are Lost - No Juice To The Macros, Part 1. (graph)
• Fed Now Sees Only 0.2% GDP Growth In Q1. (graph)
• Banks Reclassify Quarter Trillion In Securities Ahead Of Rate Hike. (graph)
• European Bond Market May See Nasdaq 2000 Style Collapse, AXA's Haley Says. (graph)
• What Greece Owes, And More Importantly - When! (graph)
• The Tried-And-True Blueprint For Raising Taxes. 
• Durable Goods Orders Drop And Miss In Worst Run Since Lehman. (graph)
• On Greek "Independence Day", Creditors Prepare To Seal Athens' Fate.

Business Insider: 

• Polish general: Russia is trying to wage hybrid warfare in our country.
• The sanctions on Iran are already falling apart.
• Officials: Yemen's president just fled the country by boat.
• America's oil supply is running over.

NY Times:

• Q. and A. With Fed’s Dennis Lockhart: The Year to Raise Rates. Dennis Lockhart just entered his ninth year as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and during that time he has never voted to raise interest rates. He took the job during the very early days of the financial crisis, and he has never really had the chance. But that is about to change. Mr. Lockhart said in an interview Monday that he expected he would vote to start raising rates by September at the latest.

Telegraph: 

• Europe blocks desperate Greek attempt to stay afloat. Eurozone says it is "legally impossible" to return €1.2bn in rescue funds to cash-strapped Athens.