Day Traders Diary

3/18/15

U.S. equity futures hold slim pre-market losses following yesterday's broad-based surge that sent the S&P 500 higher by 1.2%. The S&P 500 futures hover one point below fair value.

The Dollar Index (98.78, +0.22) plunged shortly after yesterday's cash close, but is now back at levels seen two weeks ago. Meanwhile, crude oil is lower by 3.4% at $43.13/bbl after retracing half of yesterday's spike.

Treasuries hover in the red with the 10-yr yield higher by nearly two basis points at 1.94%.

Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 293K) and Q4 Current Account Balance (consensus -$105.00 billion) will be reported at 8:30 ET while February Leading Indicators (expected 0.2%) and March Philadelphia Fed Survey (consensus 6.9) will both be released at 10:00 ET.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

Biogen Idec (BIIB 434.00, +6.07): +1.4% after Credit Suisse raised its price target to $500 from $400.

eBay (EBAY 56.93, -1.49): -2.6% after Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock to 'Underweight' from 'Neutral.'

Guess? (GES 18.75, +2.01): +12.0% after better than expected earnings overshadowed cautious guidance.

Lennar (LEN 50.30, +0.58): +1.2% after beating earnings and revenue estimates.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Asian markets ended mostly higher. China's Shanghai Composite +0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +1.5%, and Japan's Nikkei -0.4%. 

In economic data: 

Japan's March Tankan Index rose to 16 from 11 while All Industries Activity Index +1.9% month-over-month (expected 1.7%; last -0.1%)

South Korea's February PPI +0.1% month-over-month (previous -1.2%); -3.6% year-over-year (consensus -1.5%; prior -3.6%)

New Zealand's Q4 GDP rose 0.8% quarter-over-quarter (expected 0.7%; last 1.0%); +3.5% year-over-year (consensus 3.3%, previous 3.2%)

In news: 

The Reserve Bank of Australia released its quarterly bulletin, noting that the slowdown in China's property market has occurred amid an increase in leverage among property developers.

Major European indices trade mostly higher. Germany's DAX -0.1%, UK's FTSE +0.2%, and France's CAC +0.2%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +1.2% and Spain's IBEX +0.7%. 

Economic data was limited: 

Swiss trade surplus narrowed to CHF2.47 billion from CHF3.41 billion (expected surplus of CHF2.87 billion).

Among news of note: 

The Swiss National Bank kept its key interest rate at -0.75%, as expected.

According to Reuters, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis said liquidity has become a problem and Greece will need cooperation with the EU to address the issue.