Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
  • Asia Set to Stem Equity Losses; Kiwi Dollar Rises. Asian stocks were poised to halt the slide triggered by an escalation in tensions between the U.S. and North Korea as American officials tried to ease concerns that sparked a flight to safe-haven assets. Treasuries pared gains and U.S. stocks recouped declines in the final hour of trading as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled military confrontation was not imminent. He was one of several officials in the Trump administration who sought to fine-tune the message on how it will address North Korean threats. The kiwi dollar climbed as New Zealand’s central bank reinforced its expectation to maintain a record-low interest rate. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average were 0.2 percent higher than the Tokyo cash-market close. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.1 percent, while contracts on South Korea’s Kospi index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1 percent.
Wall Street Journal:
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
Night Trading 
  • Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 82.0 -1.75 basis points
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 20.75 +1.5 basis points.
  • Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 73.55 -.02%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.04%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures -.04%.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

  • (EAT)/1.04
  • (GOOS)/-.19
  • (DDS)/.20
  • (KSS)/1.19
  • (M)/.46
  • (NWSA)/.10
  • (NDLS)/.02
  • (JWN)/.65
  • (NVDA)/.82
  • (PCTY)/.01
  • (SNAP)/-.14
Economic Releases 
8:30 am EST
  • Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated at 240K versus 240K the prior week.
  • Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1960K versus 1968K prior.
  • PPI Final Demand MoM for July is estimated to rise +.1% versus a +.1% gain in June.
  • PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for July is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.1% gain in June.
2:00 pm EST
  • The Monthly Budget Deficit for July is estimated at -$52.0B versus -$90.2B in June.
Upcoming Splits
  • None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Fed's Dudley speaking, UK industrial production report, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, $15B 30Y T-Note auction, WASDE Crop report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, Goldman Power/Utilities/MLPs/Pipeline Conference and the (RL) annual meeting could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by industrial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

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