Day Traders Diary

12/23/13

U.S. equity futures hover near their pre-market highs. The S&P 500 futures trade ten points above fair value. Also of note, Nasdaq futures trade 32 points above fair value as Apple (AAPL 568.38, +19.36) provides support after the company entered into a multi-year iPhone agreement with China Mobile (CHL 52.75, +1.12).
Reviewing overnight developments:
Asian markets ended higher. China's Shanghai Composite +0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.5%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for Emperor's Birthday.
Investors received just one economic data point:
Hong Kong's CPI increased 4.3% year-over-year, as expected.
In news:
The People's Bank of China conducted its second consecutive liquidity injection, but that did not stop money market rates from continuing their recent climb. Most notably, the two-week Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate jumped over 124 basis points to 8.246%.
Major European indices trade mixed. Germany's DAX +0.7%, Great Britain's FTSE +0.6%, and France's CAC -0.1%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +0.3% and Spain's IBEX -0.1%.
Economic data was scarce:
Germany's Import Price Index ticked up 0.1% month-over-month (-0.2% expected, -0.7% prior) while the House Price Index ticked down 0.4% month-over-month (0.8% last).
Italian consumer confidence slipped to 96.2 from 98.2 (98.8 expected).
Spain's PPI ticked down 0.6% year-over-year (-0.1% consensus, -0.2% last).
Swiss Consumption Indicator increased to 1.43 from 1.26.
Norway's unemployment rate fell to 3.3% from 3.4% (3.5% expected).
Among news of note:
Fitch affirmed the sovereign rating of France at 'AA+' with a 'Stable' outlook.
According to the annual report prepared by Germany's Economics Ministry, the government expects annual GDP growth to be in the neighborhood of 1.5% through 2018.
In U.S. corporate news:

Micron (MU 21.60, -0.57): -2.6% after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to 'Underperform' from 'Neutral.'
Tiffany (TIF 89.02, -1.60): -1.8% after Dutch arbitrators ordered the company to pay Swatch approximately $450 million in damages.

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