Tuesday Watch

Evening Headlines 
Bloomberg:  

• Euro Area Pushes Greece to Open Books as Talks Resume. European lawmakers piled pressure on Greece to open its books and follow through with pledges agreed to in its rescue package, as the country tries to avoid running out of cash as soon as this month. Greece will resume talks with its creditors in Brussels on Wednesday, alongside technical talks in Athens to comb through data. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece will make “all necessary” data available.
• China Short Sellers Target World’s Biggest Broker Rally. The world-beating surge in Chinese brokerages is reversing as short sellers increase bets against the stocks and investors speculate regulatory changes will erode earnings. Securities firms in China with market value of at least $1 billion have dropped about 15 percent on average this year, after more than doubling in 2014. Short interest, or wagers on a decline, in China Galaxy Securities Co. and Shanghai-based Haitong Securities Co. have climbed to at least 12 percent of outstanding shares, the highest among global peers tracked by Bloomberg and Markit Group Ltd.
• China’s Stocks Fall After Inflation Data as Financials Decline. China’s stocks fell, led by banks and property developers, after the release of inflation data. China Citic Bank Corp and China Merchants Bank Co. declined more than 2 percent. Poly Real Estate Group Co. dropped 2 percent after reporting sales fell 39 percent in February. Glass cover manufacturer Lens Technology Co. will sell initial public offering shares, kicking off 23 IPO sales this week. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.4 percent to 3,289.46 at 9:35 a.m. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index decreased 0.4 percent.
• Asian Stocks Advance After U.S. Equities Rebound, Yen Weakens. Asian stocks rose, following a rebound in U.S. equities, as a weaker yen boosted Japanese exporters and investors awaited data on China’s inflation. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.1 percent to 144.08 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo. 
• Dollar Jumps on Rate Outlook. The dollar extended gains, trading near a more-than seven-year high versus the yen, amid speculation U.S. interest rate increases will be brought forward. Chinese shares fell with copper after producer prices plunged. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback versus 10 major peers, rose 0.3 percent by 11:41 a.m. in Tokyo. The greenback bought 121.66 yen, close to the 121.85 hit on Dec. 8 that was the highest level since July 2007.

Wall Street Journal: 

• Hungry Market Eats Up Oil Bonds. Drop in oil prices has producers raising cash. 
• Fed Broadens Scope of Stress Tests. Tests are becoming part of Fed’s year-round activities.

Fox News:

• Exclusive: El-Sisi urges ‘Arab ready force’ to confront ISIS, questions if US ‘standing by’ Egypt. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, appealed to the U.S. to play a greater role in helping his country fight terrorism -- as he urged the creation of an "Arab ready force" to confront the Islamic State and similar groups.

CNBC:

• Americans took on $57B in credit card debt in 2014. Credit cards have made a comeback. U.S. consumers racked up a record $57.1 billion in net credit card debt in 2014, according to a CardHub survey released Monday. The total marks a 47 percent increase from 2013.
•  Why oil decline could get ugly again. (video) Still drilling at four-decade highs, the U.S. oil industry could help drive another price collapse in crude this spring.
• Fed's Fisher calls for 'prompt' rate hike in final speech. The Federal Reserve should promptly end its easy monetary policy and press ahead with an interest rate hike, followed by a set of gradual moves higher, the head of the Dallas Fed said on Monday in his final speech as a policymaker.

Zero Hedge:

• Greeks Face First Product Shortages As Cash Runs Out, "It's Worse Than In 2012".
• "There Are Huge Gaps" In Clinton's Email Release, Benghazi Probe Chief Blasts.
• Real-Time Q1 GDP Update : 1.2%. (graph)
• Bonds Bid All Day But Stocks Shrug Off Apple's(AAPL) "Turlington Turmoil". (graph)
• Eurogroup Humiliation Of Greece Complete: The Troika Is Coming Back To Athens.
• Venezuela To Start Fingerprinting Supermarket Shoppers.

Business Insider:

• A German politician officially came out in favor of a Grexit.
• Marco Rubio: Obama was a 'backbencher,' I'm the real deal.
• There's a new ticking time bomb inside China's economy.
• America has a problem with Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.
• The unexpected failure of this seemingly healthy company shows what can go wrong when you invest in China.

Reuters:

• Qualcomm(QCOM) to buy back up to $15 bln of shares, raise dividend. Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc said it would buy back up to $15 billion of shares and raise its quarterly dividend. Shares of the company, which said it would buy back up to $10 billion of shares in the next 12 months, rose 2.6 percent to $74.60 in extended trading on Monday. Qualcomm also raised its quarterly dividend to 48 cents per share from 42 cents, effective March 25.
• China's deficit plans put squeeze on local government financing. China's plan to run its biggest fiscal deficit since the global financial crisis may help develop its bond market, but the extra competition for funding could sink some of the major providers of local government financing. Local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), which were invented to skirt restrictions on local government fundraising, are already under pressure from Beijing's drive to reduce local debt and migrate provincial financing to a more transparent municipal bond model.
• EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil's real weakens sharply on political, fiscal concerns. 

Telegraph:

• Europe tightens noose as Syriza told to face the 'naked truth' over bail-out. Creditors tell Greece to stop wasting time over enacting reforms as the country scrambles to meet €350m in IMF loan repayments by the end of the week.

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.25% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 105.75 +1.75 basis points.

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 65.25 +.75 basis point.

• S&P 500 futures -.09%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.03%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (BKS)/1.19
• (SINA)/.18
• (PAY)/.41

Economic Releases
9:00 am EST 

• The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for February is estimated to rise to 98.9 versus 97.9 in January.

10:00 am EST

• Wholesale Inventories for January are estimated to fall -.1% versus a +.1% gain in December.
• Wholesale Sales for for January are estimated to fall -.5% versus a -.4% decline in December.
• JOLTS Job Openings for January are estimated at 5050 versus 5028 in December.

Upcoming Splits

• (ROL) 3-for-2

Other Potential Market Movers

• The China New Loans/Inflation reports, USDA's WASDE report, weekly US retail sales reports, RBC Financials conference, Piper Jaffray Tech/Media/Telecom conference, Barclays Healthcare conference, (BMS) investor day, (CVX) analyst meeting and the (XLNX) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by industrial and real estate shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.