Day Traders Diary

10/4/13

U.S. equity futures hold modest gains with the S&P 500 futures up 0.2%.

Reviewing overnight developments:

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.3%, Japan's Nikkei -0.9%, and China's Shanghai Composite was closed for Golden Week.

Regional economic data was limited:

The Bank of Japan maintained its policy stance, leaving its key interest rate unchanged at 0-0.1%.

India's HSBC Services PMI slipped to 44.6 from 47.6.

In news:

Japan's LDP party is expected to consider implementing corporate tax cuts and lowering the sales tax on food.

Major European indices hover near their highs. Germany's DAX +0.1%, Great Britain's FTSE +0.1%, and France's CAC +0.5%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +1.4% and Spain's IBEX +0.6%.

Economic data was scarce:

Eurozone PPI was unchanged month-over-month (0.1% expected, 0.2% prior).

Germany's PPI slipped 0.1% month-over-month (0.1% forecast, -0.1% previous) while the year-over-year reading fell 0.5% (0.1% consensus, 0.5% last).

Looking at news:

The European Stability Mechanism chief Klaus Regling said he expects Greece to require a third bailout package.

In U.S. corporate news:

Apple (AAPL 485.30, +1.89) is +0.4% after agreeing to acquire Cue for more than $40 million.

Union Pacific (UNP 153.70, -1.68) is -1.1% after lowering its third quarter earnings guidance below consensus.

Forest Oil (FST 6.75, +0.40) is +6.3% following an agreement to sell some of its Texas oil and gas assets to Templar Energy for $1.0 billion.

The September nonfarm payrolls report will not be released at its regular time due to the ongoing government shutdown.

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