Day Traders Diary

11/8/13

U.S. equity futures have slipped from their highs, but the S&P 500 futures continue to hover just above their flat line. Some additional volatility is expected around 8:30 ET when the October nonfarm payrolls report crosses the wires. The Briefing.com consensus expects the reading to come in at 100,000 while the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 7.3% from 7.2%.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Asian markets ended broadly lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.6%, Japan's Nikkei -1.0%, and China's Shanghai Composite -1.1%.
Economic data was limited:
China reported a trade surplus of $31.10 billion ($23.90 billion forecast, $15.20 billion prior) as exports grew at 5.6% (3.2% expected, -0.3% prior) while imports increased 7.6% (8.5% forecast, 7.4% last).
In news:
Former People's Bank of China adviser Li Daokui said he expects China's economic growth to slow in the next two to three years.
Major European indices hover near their lows. Great Britain's FTSE -0.5%, Germany's DAX -0.7%, and France's CAC -1.0%.
In regional economic data:
Germany's trade surplus expanded to EUR18.80 billion from EUR15.80 billion (EUR15.50 billion forecast).
Great Britain's trade deficit narrowed to GBP9.82 billion from GBP9.56 billion (GBP9.20 billion prior).
France reported a government budget deficit of EUR80.80 billion (-EUR90.80 billion expected, -EUR93.60 billion prior) while the trade deficit widened to EUR5.80 billion from EUR5.10 billion (-EUR4.80 billion last). Separately, industrial production slipped 0.5% month-over-month (0.1% expected, 0.7% previous).
Looking at news:
Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating of France to 'AA' from 'AA+.' The rating agency cited subpar economic growth, high unemployment, and government spending limitations as the reasons for the downgrade.
In U.S. corporate news:

Molycorp (MCP 4.95, +0.19): +4.0% after reporting a bottom-line beat on below-consensus revenue.
NVIDIA (NVDA 14.81, +0.27): +1.8% following its in-line earnings and cautious fourth quarter revenue guidance.
Priceline.com (PCLN 1038.00, +15.11): +1.5% after beating on earnings and revenue. However, the company guided Q4 earnings below consensus.
Santarus (SNTS 31.84, +8.62): +37.1% after reporting strong results and announcing it will be acquired by Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP 71.31, 0.00) for $32.00 per share, representing a 37.8% premium to yesterday's closing price.
Walt Disney (DIS 66.32, -0.83): -1.2% despite beating earnings estimates by one cent on above-consensus revenue.
Today's economic data will be topped off with the preliminary reading of the November Michigan Sentiment Survey, which will be released at 9:55 ET.

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