Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.5% to +1.0% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 74.25 +1.25 basis points. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 11.75 -.5 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 74.99 -.01%.
• FTSE 100 futures +.20%.
• S&P 500 futures +.06%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.28%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (ABB)/.30
• (ADS)/4.22
• (BK)/.96
• (GPC)/1.32
• (DHR)/.94
• (KEY)/.38
• (NVS)/1.25
• (NUE)/1.12
• (NVR)/31.79
• (PPG)/1.40
• (DGX)/1,51
• (TSM)/3.48
• (ETFC)/.79
• (MRTN)/.19
• (WERN)/.36

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 230K versus 233K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1845K versus 1871K prior.
• The Philly Fed Business Outlook Index for April is estimated to fall to 21.0 versus 22.3 in March.
  

10:00 am EST

• The Leading Index for March is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.6% gain in February.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Japan CPI report, Australia Unemployment report, Bloomberg Economic Expectations Index for April, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the (PIR) analyst day could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are higher, boosted by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.