Day Traders Diary

3/13/14

U.S. equity futures trade little changed amid subdued action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover three points above fair value.
Reviewing overnight developments:
Asian markets ended mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.7%, Japan's Nikkei -0.1%, and China's Shanghai Composite +1.1%.
Economic data was plentiful:
China's Retail Sales rose 11.8% year-over-year (13.5% expected, 13.6% prior), Industrial Production expanded 8.6% year-over-year (9.5% consensus, 9.7% last), and Fixed Asset Investment increased 17.9% year-over-year (19.4% forecast, 19.6% previous).
Japan's Core Machinery Orders rose 13.4% month-over-month (7.0% expected, -15.7% prior) while the year-over-year reading jumped 23.6% (18.8% consensus, 6.7% last).
Australia's employment expanded by 47,300 (18,000 expected, 18,000 last) while the participation rate increased 64.8% (64.5% consensus, 64.6% prior). The unemployment rate held steady at 6.0%, as expected.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked its key interest rate 25 basis points to 2.75%, as expected.
The Bank of Korea held its key interest rate at 2.50%, as expected.
In news:
China's Premier Li Keqiang spoke at the National People's Congress, saying the country's government will not let systemic risks come to the forefront as a result of debt defaults. This comes amid recent worries about an impending wave of defaults.
Major European indices trade little changed. Great Britain's FTSE -0.2%, France's CAC -0.1%, and Germany's DAX +0.2%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +0.7% and Spain's IBEX is unchanged.
Economic data was scarce:
French CPI rose 0.5% month-over-month (0.4% expected, -0.6% last).
Spain's Retail Sales increased 0.5% year-over-year (-0.8% consensus, -1.0% previous).
Italy's CPI ticked down 0.1% month-over-month while the year-over-year reading increased 0.5%. Both figures met expectations.
Among news of note:
After ending yesterday at its highest level since late 2011, the euro continued climbing during the overnight session. At this time, the single currency hovers near 1.3955 versus the dollar.
In U.S. corporate news:

Gogo (GOGO 25.60, +1.72): +7.2% after beating on earnings and revenue.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD 22.10, +2.22): +11.2% despite missing the Capital IQ consensus estimate by one cent on below-consensus revenue; however, the company boosted its repurchase program to $80 million.
Plug Power (PLUG 7.56, +0.76): +11.2% after reporting in-line earnings on above-consensus revenue.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM 62.80, +3.83): +6.5% after beating on earnings and revenue. The company issued below-consensus guidance.
Weekly initial claims, February retail sales, and February import/export prices will be released at 8:30 ET while January business inventories will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the February Treasury budget.

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