OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS
June E-mini S&Ps (ESM14Â +0.08%) this morning are down -0.04% as prices consolidate gains following Wednesday’s rally to a record high. European stocks are up +0.16% on stronger-than-expected economic data on Eurozone Apr retail sales and German Apr factory orders. The markets also await the ECB interest rate announcement and the press conference by ECB President Draghi. The ECB is expected to cut the 2-week refinancing rate by -15 bp to 0.10% and cut the overnight ECB deposit rate by -10 bp to a negative -0.10%. The ECB will also update its forecasts on inflation and economic growth. As expected, the BOE maintained its benchmark rate at 0.50% and held the asset purchase target at 375 billion pounds following its policy meeting. Asian stocks closed mixed: Japan +0.08%, Hong Kong -0.18%, China +1.05%, Taiwan +0.23%, Australia -0.15%, Singapore -0.02%, South Korea -0.63%, India +0.86%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index climbed to its best level in 2 months as exporter stocks rallied after the yen Wednesday slid to a 1-month low against the dollar, which bolsters the earnings prospects of exporters. Commodity prices are mixed. July crude oil (CLN14Â -0.31%) is down -0.29%. July gasoline (RBN14Â -0.11%) is down -0.09%. Aug gold (GCQ14Â +0.15%) is up +0.06%. July copper (HGN14Â -0.15%) is down -0.10%. Agriculture and livestock prices are mixed. The dollar index (DXY00Â -0.08%) is down -0.08%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.08%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.25%. Sep T-note prices (ZNU14+0.24%) are up +7 ticks.
Eurozone Apr retail sales unexpectedly rose +0.4% m/m, better than expectation of unch m/m and rose +2.4% y/y, stronger than expectations of +1.2% y/y and the largest annual increase in 7 years.
German Apr factory orders rose +3.1% m/m and +6.3% y/y, stronger than expectations of +1.4% m/m and +4.6% y/y.
UK May Halifax house prices jumped +3.9% m/m, over five times expectations of +0.7% m/m and the biggest monthly gain in 1-1/2 years. Prices rose +8.7% 3-months y/y, better than expectations of +7.4% 3-months y/y.
U.S. STOCK PREVIEW
Today’s weekly initial unemployment claims report is expected to show an increase of +10,000 to 310,000, reversing part of last week’s drop of -27,000 to 300,000. Meanwhile, today’s continuing claims report is expected to show a decline of -6,000 to 2.625 million, adding to last week’s -17,000 decline to 2.631 million. There are 6 of the Russell 1000 companies that report earnings today: Cooper Companies (consensus $1.60), JM Smucker (1.17), Joy Global (0.71), Navistar (-1.27), Thor Industries (1.07), and VeriFone (0.33).
Equity conferences this week include: Jefferies Global Health Care Conference on Mon-Thu, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts REITWeek Investor Forum on Tue-Thu, Deutsche Bank Global Industrials and Basic Materials Conference on Wed-Thu, Credit Suisse Engineering & Construction Conference on Thu, UBS Aerospace & Defense Conference on Thu.
