Day Traders Diary

6/18/15

U.S. equity futures trade modestly higher despite cautious action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover four points above fair value after climbing off their lows ahead of the European session.

The Eurogroup has begun today's meeting with little hope that a deal will be struck between Greece and its creditors. Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is in St. Petersburg today and is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow.

Treasuries hold gains with the 10-yr yield down three basis points at 2.29%.

Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 276K), May CPI (consensus 0.5%), and Q1 Current Account Balance (expected -$116.70 billion) will all be reported at 8:30 ET while May Leading Indicators (expected 0.4%) and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for June (consensus 8.0) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

Juniper Networks (JNPR 27.79, +0.37): +1.4% after Wedbush upgraded the stock to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral.' 

Oracle (ORCL 42.05, -2.86): -6.4% after missing earnings/revenue estimates and guiding below consensus expectations. 

Rite Aid (RAD 8.66, -0.26): -2.9% despite reporting a one-cent beat.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Asian markets ended mostly lower. China's Shanghai Composite -3.7%, Japan's Nikkei -1.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.2% 

In economic data: 

China's May House Prices -5.7% year-over-year (prior -6.1%) 

Japan's June Reuters Tankan Index ticked up to 14 from 13 

Hong Kong's May Unemployment Rate held at 3.2% (consensus 3.3%) 

New Zealand's Q1 GDP +0.2% quarter-over-quarter (expected 0.6%; prior -0.8%); +2.6% year-over-year (consensus 3.0%; last 3.5%). Separately, Q1 GDP Expenditure +0.1% quarter-over-quarter (consensus 0.5%; prior 1.1%)

In news: 

Reports out of Japan suggest tomorrow's policy meeting at the Bank of Japan could feature some pushback from members against Japan's open-ended QQE program

Major European indices trade lower across the board. UK's FTSE -0.2%, Germany's DAX -0.8%, and France's CAC -0.8%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB -0.7% and Spain's IBEX -0.8%

Investors received several data points: 

Eurozone Q1 Labor Cost Index +2.2% year-over-year (last 1.2%) 

UK's May Retail Sales +0.2% month-over-month, as expected; +4.6% year-over-year (consensus 4.8%; prior 4.6%). Core Retail Sales +0.2% month-over-month (expected 0.1%; prior 0.8%); +4.4% year-over-year (consensus 4.5%; last 4.6%) 

Spain's trade deficit widened to EUR2.25 billion from EUR890 million (expected deficit of EUR1.50 billion) 

Swiss trade surplus expanded to CHF3.43 billion from CHF2.66 billion (expected surplus of CHF2.72 billion)

Among news of note: 

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

The Norges Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.00%, leaving room for additional cuts this year