Thursday Watch

Night Trading 

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

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 86.50 -.5 basis point. 

• China Sovereign CDS 60.50 -1.0 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 67.97 +.05%.

• FTSE 100 futures -.74%.

• S&P 500 futures +.14%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.32%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

Before the Open:

• (AAL)/1.01

• (BMY)/.85

• (FCX)/.19

• (JBLU)/.43

• (MKC)/1.70

• (NVR)/49.62

• (LUV)/1.08

• (STM)/.41

• (TXT)/.98

• (UNP)/2.06

After the Close:

• (ALK)/.71

• (ETFC)/1.04

• (FII)/.59

• (INTC)/1.23

• (ISRG)/3.07

• (MSTR)/1.01

• (NSC)/2.30

• (SBUX)/.65

• (WDC)/1.50

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 218K versus 213K the prior week.

• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 1730K versus 1737K prior.
  

9:45 am EST

• The Preliminary Markit US Manufacturing PMI for January is estimated to fall to 53.5 versus 53.8 in Dec.

10:00 am EST

• The Leading Index for Dec. is estimated to fall -.1% versus a +.2% gain in Nov.

11:00 am EST

• The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index for Jan. is estimated at 3.0 versus a reading of 3.0 in Dec. 

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -158,090 barrels versus a -2,683,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline inventories are estimated to rise by +3,128,200 barrels versus a +7,503,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to rise by +777,400 barrels versus a +2,967,000 barrel gain the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to fall by -.86% versus a -1.5% decline prior.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The ECB rate decision/press conference, Japan CPI report, Australia Unemployment Rate report, Eurozone Services PMI report, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index and the EIA natural gas inventory report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are slightly higher, boosted by healthcare and technology 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.