Day Traders Diary

8/11/14

U.S. equity futures trade near their best levels of the morning amid upbeat action overseas. The sentiment has been boosted by de-escalation on the geopolitical front with a cease-fire holding in Gaza and separatists in Ukraine also proposing a pause in fighting. The S&P 500 futures hover five points above fair value, while the benchmark index is unchanged since the start of the month. The Russell 2000 has shown relative strength so far in August and will enter the trading day with a month-to-date gain of 1.0%.
Treasuries display slim losses with the 10-yr yield up one basis point at 2.44%.
In notable U.S. corporate news:
Priceline.com (PCLN 1255.94, -25.62): -2.0% after the company's cautious earnings guidance overshadowed its better than expected results.
Kinder Morgan (KMI 41.08, +4.96): +14.2% after agreeing to acquire Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP 98.40, +18.06), Kinder Morgan Management (KMR 98.99, +21.97), and El Paso Pipeline Partners (EPB 42.28, +8.68) and boosting its dividend to $2.00 per share.
Reviewing overnight developments:
Asian markets ended on a higher note. Hong Kong's Hang Seng +1.3%, China's Shanghai Composite +1.4%, and Japan's Nikkei +2.4%
In economic data:
China's CPI rose 0.1% month-over-month, while the year-over-year reading increased 2.3%. Separately, PPI fell 0.9% year-over-year. All three figures matched expectations
Japan's Tertiary Activity Index slipped 0.1% month-over-month (expected 0.2%, previous 0.9%), while Household Confidence ticked up to 41.5 from 41.1 (expected 42.3)
New Zealand's Electronic Card Retail Sales were unchanged month-over-month (expected 0.5%, previous 0.0%)
In news:
According to Nikkei, Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund temporarily lifted its limit on equity holdings in order to increase purchases of domestic stocks
Major European indices trade higher across the board. Great Britain's FTSE +0.8%, France's CAC +0.8%, and Germany's DAX +1.6%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +0.6% and Spain's IBEX +0.7%
Economic data was limited:
Great Britain's CB Leading Index rose 0.6% month-over-month (expected 0.5%)
Swiss Retail Sales rose 3.4% year-over-year (expected 0.3%, previous -0.5%)
Among news of note:
In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the first presidential election with 52.0% of the vote. Mr. Erdogan previously served as Prime Minister

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