Stocks Rising into Final Hour on Central Bank Hopes, Less European/Emerging Markets/US High-Yield Debt Angst, Quarter-End Window-Dressing, Tech/Road & Rail Sector Strength

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Higher
  

• Sector Performance: Most Sectors Rising
  

• Volume: Below Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line
  

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 13.49 -2.49%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 133.19 +.10%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 11.40 -1.72%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 53.72 -.44%

• ISE Sentiment Index 78.0 +3.0%

• Total Put/Call 1.13 +14.14%

• NYSE Arms .63 -54.56% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 79.63 -3.54%
  

• America Energy Sector High-Yield CDS Index 1,472.0 +2.07%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 90.02 -5.30%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 25.63 -1.16%

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt CDS Index 55.40 -2.64%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 283.40 -2.51%
  

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporate High Yield Index 126.59 +.13%

• 2-Year Swap Spread 10.25 -.75 basis point
  

• TED Spread 40.5 +6.25 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -23.25 -.5 basis point
  

Economic Gauges:

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 72.19 +.64%
• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .19% -4.0 basis points
  

• Yield Curve 107.0 +5.0 basis points
  

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $54.18/Metric Tonne -1.69%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -3.40 +.4 point

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index -33.60 -2.1 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -12.20 -.1 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.65% +3.0 basis points
• 22.0% chance of Fed rate hike at June 15 meeting, 32.9% chance at July 27 meeting

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei 225 Futures: Indicating +197 open in Japan 
• China A50 Futures: Indicating +114 open in China

• DAX Futures: Indicating +42 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Higher: On gains in my medical/retail/tech sector longs
  

• Disclosed Trades: None

• Market Exposure: 75% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• ICBC, Bank of China Cut Dividend Payouts as Profit Growth Stalls. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd., two of the nation’s largest state-controlled lenders, cut their dividend payout ratios for 2015 as profit growth stalled amid rising bad loans. Net income at ICBC rose 0.5 percent to 277.1 billion yuan ($42.8 billion) last year while Bank of China reported a 0.7 percent profit gain, the Beijing-based lenders reported to the Hong Kong exchange on Wednesday. The percentage of profit they paid out as dividends fell to about 30 percent from 33 percent in 2014 as the two lenders sought to preserve capital. 
• Chinese Authorities Trying to Avoid Credit Crunch. (video)
• China's Big Three Airlines Take $2.5 Billion Currency Hit. China’s Big Three state-owned airlines combined suffered about $2.5 billion in foreign-exchange losses last year after the country unexpectedly devalued the yuan in August, squeezing passenger yields and limiting profit gains from declining oil prices. Net income at China Southern Airlines Co., Asia’s largest carrier by passengers, more than doubled to 3.7 billion yuan ($571.2 million), while China Eastern Airlines Corp.’s profit climbed 33 percent to 4.5 billion yuan. Both fell short of the average analyst estimates -- 3.9 billion yuan and 5.3 billion yuan, respectively -- compiled by Bloomberg. Air China Ltd.’s net income rose 83 percent to 7.06 billion yuan, beating an estimate of 6.78 billion yuan. The companies released separate statements to the Hong Kong exchange Wednesday, based on international accounting standards.
• Hon Hai's Quarterly Profit Slides as Smartphone Demand Wilts. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.’s quarterly profit dropped for the first time in more than three years after the main assembler of Apple Inc.’s devices fell prey to slowing iPhone sales and intensifying competition in contract manufacturing. The largest member of billionaire Terry Gou’s Foxconn Technology Group reported a 7 percent slide in fourth-quarter net income to NT$52.9 billion ($1.6 billion), compared with the NT$59.1 billion average of analysts’ estimates. The fall in profit was Hon Hai’s first since the second quarter of 2012 on a comparable basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Hon Hai’s 2015 profit exceeded expectations but it’s grappling with a slowdown in smartphone demand.
• Abe Weighs Stimulus Package Before Japan Summer Vote, NHK Says. Just a day after parliament passed a record budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was considering a new economic stimulus package ahead of elections this summer, public broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday. Abe made the remarks to Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of junior coalition partner Komeito, NHK said, without saying where it got the information. Abe on Tuesday brushed off suggestions that the government would announce stimulus steps -- which some members of his own party said could amount to as much as 10 trillion yen ($89 billion). Abe reiterated that Japan will go ahead with a plan to increase the sales tax next year, barring a major economic shock on a scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers or a major earthquake, NHK reported. Public debt is piling up and the Bank of Japan’s unprecedented asset-purchase program and negative-rate policy has so far been unable to stoke inflation and break a cycle of economic expansion and contraction. With some economists suggesting that central banks are reaching their limits, the onus is falling back on governments to deliver fiscal stimulus and structural reform.
• Bank of Korea Warns Economic Growth Is Poised to Drop Below 3%. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju Yeol warned Wednesday that economic growth for 2016 is poised to fall below 3 percent and said the impact of further interest-rate cuts may be limited. The comments come amid a change in the BOK’s board and speculation of additional rate cuts given the ruling party’s request for the bank to follow the lead of Japan and Europe’s central banks to purchase more bonds. Korea’s government bond yields fell to the lowest level in more than a month on Wednesday. “First-quarter growth was weaker than expected, but recently there are some positive signs like the rebound in global oil and improvement in sentiment,” Lee said at a press briefing. “While volatility in financial markets has decreased recently and capital outflow has stabilized, factors remain that limit the impact of rates, like sluggish external demand and financial stability issues like household debt.”
• Europe's Bond Shortage Means Draghi Is About to Shock the Market. (video) As European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi prepares to increase and broaden his bond-buying program, the shrunken market might be in for a shock. While policy makers will expand their asset-purchase plan by 20 billion euros ($22.7 billion) a month at the start of April, corporate debt won’t be included until later in the quarter. That’s leaving investors to face even higher demand for government bonds with supply unable to keep up and some of Europe’s biggest banks are predicting yields are headed for even more record lows. “All of that is going to be in covered bonds, in govvies, in agencies,” Vincent Chaigneau, global head of rates and foreign-exchange strategy at Societe Generale SA in London, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move” with Guy Johnson. “That’s going to create a shock on supply-demand in Europe.”
• Euro-Area Economic Confidence Falls to Lowest in 13 Months. Euro-area economic confidence fell to the lowest level in more than a year just as the European Central Bank deployed fresh stimulus to spur growth and quash the threat of deflation. An index of executive and consumer confidence slumped for a third month, declining to 103.0 in March from a revised 103.9 the previous month, the European Commission in Brussels said on Wednesday. That’s the weakest since February 2015 and compares with a median estimate for a reading of 103.8 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
• Europe Shares Gain After Yellen Reiterates Rates to Rise Slowly. European shares advanced for a second day after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated that interest rates will be raised gradually in light of uncertain global growth. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.3 percent to 341.18 at the close of trading. Before yesterday’s advance, it had fallen for four consecutive sessions, signaling a loss of momentum in the rebound that more than halved its 2016 decline. It is on course for a 2.2 percent gain in March, its first monthly rise since November, paring its loss for the year to 6.7 percent from as much as 17 percent.
• The $90 Billion Default Flood. If anyone doubts that the credit cycle is souring quickly, just have a look at the mounting tally of defaults in the world’s biggest corporate-bond market.
• Exxon(XOM) Climate Science Probe Expands as New York Gains Allies. Massachusetts became the latest state investigating whether Exxon Mobil Corp. misled investors and the public about how climate change may affect its business. News of the state’s probe came as part of a larger announcement on Tuesday by attorneys general from California to New York who are joining forces to fight global warming and look into whether companies have understated its effects. The group of 17 states and territories may jointly investigate the climate change disclosures of individual oil and natural gas companies, according to a statement from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “With more states jumping on board, these investigations are sure to generate some serious waves,” May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, an environmental advocacy group, said in an e-mailed statement. “We’ll be looking for the Department of Justice and many more cities and states to get involved.” Suzanne McCarron, Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs, described climate-change allegations leveled against the company as “politically motivated and based on discredited reporting funded by activist organizations.” The company is “assessing all legal options,” she said in an e-mailed statement.
• Trump’s New Russia Adviser Has Deep Ties to Kremlin’s Gazprom. Carter Page brings a “real-world” resume—and says his close relations with Russian business are a strength.

Wall Street Journal:

• Fidelity Marks Down Startups Including DropBox, Zenefits. Largest Fidelity markdown in February is enterprise-software company Cloudera.
• Investors’ Message to Hedge Funds: We Are Replacing You With Clones. In last quarter of 2015, more money was withdrawn from hedge funds than was taken in.

Fox News: 

• North Korea warns of new famine as Kim's weight, belligerence balloon. (video) Portly North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whose hostile actions have brought crippling international sanctions to his impoverished nation, has a new message for the Hermit Kingdom's starving masses: Get ready to eat plant roots. Kim, whose weight the South Korean government estimates has ballooned to 290 pounds, signaled through state media that the nation could be headed for another famiine like the one that killed an estimated 3.5 million people in the 1990s.  
• Cuomo hit for visiting Cuba, but banning North Carolina travel. (video) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will go to Cuba … but North Carolina is off-limits. What gives?

CNBC:

• Fed's Evans: April rate hike would be surprising. (video) The Federal Reserve is reluctant to plow ahead with more interest rate hikes because of increased global risks, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told CNBC on Wednesday. Evans spoke a day after central bank Chair Janet Yellen struck a dovish tone compared with recent comments by other Fed officials advocating hiking interest rates. He told CNBC's "Squawk Box" he believes Yellen has made it clear all meetings are live.

Zero Hedge:

• Does Someone Know Something About The Result Of The Wisconsin Primary? (graph) With Wisconsin becoming make-or-break for the avoidance of a contested convention, it appears, based on PredictIt's odds, that someone suddenly knows something about the result and has bet heavily on Cruz to win... Trump's odds have collapsed in the last hour (on huge volume).
• Meanwhile In San Francisco - $400/Month To Live In A Box In Someone's Living Room.
• U.S. Home Prices Are 14% Overvalued According To Bank of America. (graph) 
• Are Housing Stocks Putting Up A Roof? (graph) 
• Iran's Future Is In Missiles, Not Dialogue, And Anyone Who Says Otherwise Is "Ignorant Traitor": Ayatollah. (video)
• Fed's Flip-flopping Causes Technicians To Lose The Plot. (graph)
• Crude Pops & Drops As US Production Tumbles To 16-Month Lows. (graph)
• Noose Tightens On Clinton As Second Federal Judge Grants Discovery In E-Mail Fiasco.
• What Janet Hath Wrought... (graph)
• The End Of Europe As We Know It?
• Former Fed President: "Living In Constant Fear Of Market Reaction Is Not How You Manage Central Bank Policy".
• Gross To Central Banks: "Get Global Growth Moving Now, Or Else".
• About That ADP Jobs Number: Dear Mark Zandi, Please Explain This (Again). (graph)
• Boeing(BA) Will Terminate More Than 4,500 Workers.

Business Insider:

• China's internet is getting creepier and creepier.
• 'Total catastrophe': Experts say Donald Trump's position on nuclear proliferation would be a disaster.
• US: No, China, we won't recognize these red lines you've drawn all over the South China Sea.
• Half of American parents have gone into debt after spoiling their kids.
• The FDA just authorized the expanded use of a medical abortion pill.
• Obama just shortened the prison sentences of 61 drug offenders.

The Telegraph: 

• Immigration is what will decide the outcome of the referendum, as it will in Holland too. 
• House price crash could leave savers without cash to fund retirement, Bank official warns.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

• Small-Cap Growth +.1%

Sector Underperformers:

• 1) Education -1.9% 2) Homebuilders -1.0% 3) Computer Hardware -.9%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• VRNT, SPKE, WMS, OPK, USCR, FIT, WATT, VRX, LSTR, DV, NSTG, EVHC, TAHO, IMDZ, NOAH, PAYX, ALE, GIMO, VCLT, ALDR, WST, WDC, CHE, FN, MDVN and USCR

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

• 1) JNPR 2) HOG 3) TXN 4) EBAY 5) IWM

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:

• 1) VRNT 2) LSTR 3) BA 4) GM 5) BGG

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume
• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer: 

• Large-Cap Value +.4%

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Steel +2.6% 2) Insurance +1.1% 3) Airlines +.9% 

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume: 

• ACAD, RH, LULU, SIMO, YRD, WAL, MET, LDRH, KTWO and GHL

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity: 

• 1) CL 2) RH 3) ACAD 4) CAG 5) FOLD

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions: 

• 1) SONC 2) ACAD 3) CCL 4) AIG 5) LULU

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume
• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

Morning Market Internals

NYSE Composite Index:

• Volume Running -5.6% Below 100-Day Average
• 8 Sectors Rising, 2 Sectors Declining
• 69.6% of Issues Advancing, 27.6% Declining
• 163 New 52-Week Highs, 3 New Lows
• 46.6% of Issues Above 200-day Moving Average
• Average 14-Day RSI 48.9%
• Vix 13.2 -4.3%
• Total Put/Call .91 -8.08%
• TRIN/Arms .58 -58.9%

Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:

• China's Large Banks Wary on Li Keqiang's Plan for Bad Loans. China’s proposal to deal with a potential bad-loan crisis by having banks convert their soured debt into equity is meeting with unexpected resistance from some of the biggest potential beneficiaries of the plan -- the country’s large banks. Asked about the plan at the Boao Forum last week, China Construction Bank Corp. Chairman Wang Hongzhang said he needs to think of his shareholders and wouldn’t want to see a plan that simply converted "bad debt into bad equity." China Citic Bank Corp.’s Vice President Sun Deshun said at a press conference last week that any compulsory conversion of debt into equity would have to be capped. And Bank of China Ltd. Chairman Tian Guoli said in Boao that it’s "hard to evaluate" how effective debt-equity swaps will be, as so much has changed in China since the tool was used to bail out the banking system during a previous crisis in the late 1990s.
• China Considers Tightening Control Over Internet Websites. China’s government is moving to tighten its grip over the Internet as it rolls out draft rules that will effectively ban Web domains not approved by local authorities, including possibly the most widely used .com and .org addresses.  
• China's Shifting Debt Goalposts. What's the limit to the patience of global investors with shifting goalposts in China? That test may be about to happen. Last Thursday, developer Guangzhou R&F asked creditors to remove several clauses from the documents of its dollar bonds which restrict the company's ability to take on more debt.
• China's True Demand For Copper Is Only Half as Much as You Think. (video) A 15 million metric tonne stockpile. Virtually every aspect of the commodities bust has a China angle. Forecasts for China's consumption of raw materials have proved wildly optimistic, while domestic production of certain resources have resulted in particularly severe gluts in commodities such as steel and coal. But in one respect, China has been putting an artificial degree of upward pressure on a select resource—copper—sparing it from the worst of the rout in commodities.
• Red Flag Rising for India Finances as Migrant Remittances Shrink. India’s most reliable source of foreign funding is under threat. Remittances fell to $15.8 billion last quarter, the lowest since April-June 2011 and a 9.4 percent drop from a year earlier, as the global slowdown and slumping oil prices reduce demand for foreign workers. Indians working abroad -- from construction laborers in Dubai to Silicon Valley engineers -- send home the most money in the world, helping to pay for imports of fuel and electronics. The drop in cash flows is a "red flag" even as lower oil costs help shrink the current-account deficit for now, said Suvodeep Rakshit, an economist at Kotak Securities Ltd. in Mumbai. While India isn’t dependent on remittances, a further erosion to one of the most stable components of the current account would be “a headache," he said.
• Japan's Industrial Output Falls as Weak Exports Sap Demand. Japan’s industrial production dropped the most since the March 2011 earthquake as falling exports sapped demand and a steel-mill explosion halted domestic car production at Toyota Motor Corp. Output slumped 6.2 percent in February after rising in January, the trade ministry said on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 5.9 percent drop. The government projects output will expand 3.9 percent this month. The data underscores the weakness of Japan’s recovery from last quarter’s contraction, with overseas shipments dropping for the last five months and sluggish domestic demand. With pressure building on policy makers to bolster growth, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the government would front load spending after parliament passed a record budget for the 12 months starting April 1. He resisted calls for a supplementary fiscal package.
• Even BOJ Has Limits as Central Bank Balks at Minus 0.6% Yield. Even the Bank of Japan, which has been pushing bond yields below zero by charging interest on bank reserves, has its limits. Almost a fifth of the 645 billion yen ($5.7 billion) of the debt put up for sale at a money market operation Monday was left unbought as the BOJ shunned commercial paper with yields of minus 0.647 percent or less. At its March 18 operation to buy Japanese government bonds with repurchase agreements, it also excluded bid yields lower than the average accepted level and bought less debt than its target. 
• Asia Stocks Rise as Yellen's Dovish Comments Lift Risk Appetite. Asian stocks advanced after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled the U.S. central bank remains wary of raising interest rates while threats remain to domestic growth from a slowing global economy. The Topix index fell in Tokyo after Yellen’s comments strengthened the yen, souring the outlook for Japanese exporters. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent to 128.34 as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. The measure is on course to post its largest monthly advance since October, climbing 7.7 percent to pare its quarterly loss to 2.7 percent.
• Yellen Prompts Traders to Scale Back Bets on Fed Rate Increase. Bond traders pushed back bets for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year after Chair Janet Yellen said the global economy presents heightened risks. The probability of a move at the Fed’s next meeting in April has dropped to zero, futures contracts indicate. The odds are 64 percent by December, after traders saw a 73 percent chance as recently as the end of last week. “The comment was more dovish than I expected,” said Wontark Doh, head of overseas fixed-income investment in Seoul at Samsung Asset Management, which oversees $200 billion. “One or two times is possible, three or four times is not possible. The upside for Treasury yields is limited.”

 Wall Street Journal:

• Supreme Court Struggles to Deal With 4-4 Split. A pair of developments revealed the new dynamic of a court equally divided between conservatives and liberals.
• Iranian Miniskirts, Bags of Cash Raise Doubts Over Controls at HSBC. Monitor finds lapses in bank’s efforts to prevent money laundering and evasion of sanctions following 2012 settlement with Justice Department.
• Another Terrorist Strike, Another Obama Lecture. The president knows that the U.S. could defeat Islamic State outright, but he lacks the political will to lead the fight.

Fox News:

• Donald Trump rescinds pledge to support eventual GOP nominee. (video) Donald Trump said Tuesday night he will no longer honor his pledge to support the eventual Republican pick for president regardless of who wins the nomination. The Republican front-runner made the remarks during a town hall event in Milwaukee, Wis. When he was asked if he would keep the pledge he signed last September to back the eventual nominee, Trump responded "No, I won’t."
• States moving to restore work requirements for food stamp recipients. (video) States are moving to once again require able-bodied adults to put in work hours in exchange for food stamps, after the requirements largely were suspended by the Obama administration. The slow-moving reversal follows the administration pulling back on Clinton-era changes that required recipients to work for government welfare benefits. Signing the reform bill in 1996 alongside then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, then-President Bill Clinton said the goal was to make welfare “a second chance, not a way of life.”

CNBC:

• ADB cuts developing Asia growth forecasts on China slowdown. Asia's developing economies, once home to double-digit growth rates, will see momentum stall over the next two years amid a weak recovery in industrial nations and a slowdown in China, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned on Wednesday. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for developing Asia is expected at 5.7 percent in 2016 and 2017, decelerating from 5.9 percent in 2015, the bank said in its new 2016 outlook.
• Yellen push back at hawks creates confusion. (video) Fed Chair Janet Yellen attempted to reassure markets that the U.S. central bank will move cautiously with further rate hikes, pushing back at recent hawkish comments from other Fed officials. But the Fed chair also managed to unleash a backlash from some of Wall Street's more often staid economists. 

Zero Hedge:

• "Made Out Of Sand" - A Dramatic Look Inside A Newly Built Chinese Apartment. (video)
• This (Crashing) Trend Is Not Your Friend. (graph)
• Price Controls May Be On the Way.
• The Difference Between Capitalism & Communism (Explained To President Obama).
• MSNBC Host Admits Democratic Primary Rigged, While Station Simultaneously Rigs Coverage.
• Japanese Industrial Production Crashes Most Since 2011 Tsunami. (graph)
• Fitch Downgrades Chicago After "Worst Possible Outcome" In State Supreme Court Pension Reform Bid.
• Rail Traffic Volumes Tumble As Coal Stockpiles Soar At Record Rate. (graph)
• "It's Worse Than 2008": Toronto's "Condo King" Weighs In On The Death Of Alberta's Housing Market.
• CBO Misses Its Obamacare Projection By 24 Million People. (graph)
• Crushed By The Record Oil Squeeze, This Is How Energy Bears Are Shorting Crude Now.
• Sell In March And Go Away? There's Something About April During Election Years. (graph)
• Top Silicon Valley VC Laments: Startups Being Funded Are "Mostly Crap & Largely Worthless".
• The Doha Dilemma - Prolonging The Agony Deeper & Longer.
• Crude Rises After Gasoline Draw, Crude Build. (graph)
• "When Hawks Die" - Yellen-nado Sends Bonds, Stocks, & Bullion Soaring. (video)

Business Insider:

• Anderson Cooper to Donald Trump: 'That's the argument of a 5-year-old'. (video)
• China is trying to silence its critics abroad by targeting their families back home.

21st Century Business Herald:

• Beijing's Neighbor Towns May Control Property Market. Some counties and towns of Hebei province bordering Beijing will take steps to stem surge in property prices, citing local govt.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.25% to +1.5% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 149.25 -3.5 basis points. 
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 57.0 -1.75 basis points. 
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 71.77 +.06%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.12%. 
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.12%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate 

• (CCL)/.32
• (LULU)/.80
• (PAYX)/.50
• (MU)/-.09
• (PRGS)/.29 

Economic Releases  
8:15 am EST

• The ADP Employment Change for March is estimated to fall to 195K versus 214K in February.     

10:30 am EST

• Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory build of +2,822,220 barrels versus a +9,357,000 barrel gain prior. Gasoline supplies are estimated to fall by -2,229,440 barrels versus a -4,642,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate supplies are estimated to fall by -342,780 barrels versus a +917,000 barrel build prior. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.09% versus a -.6% decline prior. 

Upcoming Splits 

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Evans speaking, $28B 7Y T-Note auction, weekly MBA mortgage applications report and the (CAE) investor day 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 mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.