Day Traders Diary

11/13/14

U.S. equity futures trade modestly higher amid upbeat action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover five points above fair value after spiking overnight. However, futures have ticked down from their highs and currently trade in the middle of their range.

Treasuries hold slim losses with the 10-yr yield down one basis point at 2.36%.

Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 280K) will be released at 8:30 ET while the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will be reported at 10:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the Treasury Budget for October.

In U.S. corporate news of note:
Cisco Systems (CSCO 24.62, -0.49): -2.0% after cautious guidance overshadowed its slim beat.
Dreamworks Animation (DWA 28.00, +5.63): +25.2% amid reports Hasbro (HAS 57.00, -0.47) is in discussions to buy the company.
J.C. Penney (JCP 7.25, -0.51): -6.6% after beating bottom-line estimates on light revenue. The company made some cautious comments about the upcoming quarter.
Rocket Fuel (FUEL 19.00, +2.77): +17.1% in reaction to better than expected results and upbeat guidance.
Wal-Mart (WMT 80.70, +1.50): +1.9% after beating bottom-line estimates and guiding for flat comparable store sales in Q4.
Reviewing overnight developments:
Asian markets ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei +1.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.3%, and China's Shanghai Composite -0.4%
In economic data:
China's Retail Sales rose 11.5% year-over-year (expected 11.6%; previous 11.6%), Industrial Production rose 7.7% (consensus 8.0%; prior 8.0%), and Fixed Asset Investment increased 15.9% year-over-year, as expected (last 16.1%)
Japan's Industrial Production increased 2.9% month-over-month (expected 2.7%; prior 2.7%), Core Machinery Orders jumped 7.3% year-over-year (consensus -1.3%; previous -3.3%), and Reuters Tankan Index improved to 13 from 8. Separately, CGPI slipped 0.8% month-over-month (consensus -0.4%, last -0.1%) while the year-over-year reading increased 2.9% (expected 3.3%; last 3.5%)
Australia's MI Inflation Expectations increased to 4.1% from 3.4%
New Zealand's Business NZ PMI rose to 59.3 from 58.5
In news:
The Reserve Bank of Korea left its key interest rate at 2.0%, as expected. Governor Lee Ju-yeol commented on the foreign exchange market, saying a fast-paced slide in the yen would invite some concern
Major European indices trade mostly higher. Great Britain's FTSE +0.1%, France's CAC +0.2%, and Germany's DAX +0.7%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB -0.6% and Spain's IBEX -0.3%
Participants received several data points:
Germany's CPI slipped 0.3% month-over-month while the year-over-year reading increased 0.8%. Both figures matched expectations
French CPI was unchanged month-over-month (consensus -0.1%; prior -0.4%) while the Current Account deficit narrowed to EUR1.20 billion from EUR3.70 billion (expected deficit of EUR3.70 billion)
Spain's CPI rose 0.5% month-over-month while the year-over-year reading ticked down 0.1%. Both were in-line with estimates
Italy's CPI rose 0.1% month-over-month and the year-over-year reading also increased 0.1%, as expected
Swiss PPI slipped 0.1% month-over-month (expected -0.2%; last -0.1%) while the year-over-year reading fell 1.1% (consensus -1.3%; prior -1.4%)
Among news of note:
The European Central Bank released its Survey of Professional Forecasters, which lowered the inflation outlook for the region. According to the survey, harmonized inflation is expected to average 0.5% this year (from 0.7%), 1.0% in 2015 (from 1.2%), and 1.4% in 2016 (from 1.5%)

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