Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:   

• U.S. Asks China for New Round of Trade Talks Led by Mnuchin.   

• Wall Street Is Bullish on Global Economy Despite Emerging Markets.

• Asia Stocks Set for Gains, Dollar Slides. Asian investors prepared for some respite from the recent trade-inflicted concerns that have pummeled equities in the region amid optimism trade talks with China will resume. The dollar fell and the yuan climbed. Futures on equities in Hong Kong and China rose after reports the U.S. is trying to de-escalate trade friction, which also boosted the Australian dollar. The greenback dropped the most in almost three weeks. U.S. stocks ended Wednesday mixed, with chipmakers remaining under pressure. Crude oil posted its biggest two-day increase since June amid signs that global supplies are shrinking and as Hurricane Florence edged closer to the U.S. east coast. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.1 percent. Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.4 percent. FTSE China A50 Index futures climbed 1.4 percent.  

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.   

• Crypto’s 80% Plunge Is Now Worse Than the Dot-Com Crash.   

• Hurricane Florence May Disrupt Auto Parts and Packaged Food Supply Chains.

Wall St. Journal:

• U.S. Seeks New Trade Talks With China to Avoid Battle.

• China’s Wealth Fund Interested in HNA’s Deutsche Bank Stake.

• Median Household Income Rose 1.8% in 2017, Census Data Show.

• Fidelity Doubles Down on Its Strategy to Offer Free Index Funds.

• ‘Crypto Tourists’ Flee Bitcoin.

MarketWatch.com:

• Here’s the hit the global stock market has taken from trade-war worries so far, in one chart.

Fox News:

• Waves top 80 feet as monster storm barrels through Atlantic toward Carolina coast, sparking evacuations.

CNBC: 

• Yet another finance executive is leaving Tesla.

• Goldman Sachs stock reaches longest losing streak since its 1999 IPO.

• Here's a first look at the new iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone XR.

• How game apps that captivate kids have been collecting their data. 

• US in early stages of proposing new trade talks with China in the near future.

Zero Hedge: 

• "Panic And Dismay": Leaked Video Reveals Distraught Google Execs Grappling With Hillary Clinton's Loss

• "Leaking Like Mad": FBI-DOJ-MSM Collusion Went Far Deeper Than Previously Known

• "A Life Changing Event": 3 Million To Lose Power, Hog Farmers Panic As Hurricane Set To Smash Into Coast

• "Who's Naked?": Ranking The Most Vulnerable Emerging Market Currencies.

• Dear Bill Dudley, It's The Fed - Not Investors - To Blame For Asset Bubbles.

• Stocks, Dollar Sink As Goldman Suffers Longest Losing Streak In History.

Business Insider:

• Here's everything that happened at Apple's huge iPhone launch event. 

• The 5 most important things Apple announced at its big annual iPhone event.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 79.25 +.5 basis point. 

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 12.75 unch.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 65.59 +.01%.

• FTSE 100 futures +.55%.

• S&P 500 futures -.04%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.05%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Before the Open:

• (KR)/.38

After the Close:

• (ADBE)/1.69

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• The CPI MoM for August is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.2% gain in July.

• The CPI Ex Food and Energy MoM for August is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.2% gain in July. 

• Real Average Hourly Earnings YoY for August.

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 210K versus 203K the  prior week. 

• Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 1710K versus 1707K prior.

2:00 pm EST

• The Monthly Budget Deficit for August is estimated to widen to -$185.0B versus -$107.7B in July.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Quarles speaking, Fed's Bostic speaking, BoE rate decision, ECB rate decision, ECB Press Conference, Australia Unemployment Rate, German CPI report, $15B 30Y T-Bond auction, Bloomberg Sept. US Economic Survey, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, BMO Capital Back to School Education Conference, CL King Best Ideas Conference and the BofA Merrill Gaming/Lodging Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher.  The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.