OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS
June E-mini S&Ps (ESM15 -0.06%) this morning are down -0.05% ahead of weekly U.S. jobless claims and the monthly Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey. European stocks are up +0.28% as they catch-up to yesterday’s rally in U.S. equities after the Fed signaled it will proceed slowly when raising interest rates. Gains in European stocks were limited as Greece negotiates with its creditors to avoid default as its funding options dwindle. The yield on the Greek 10-year bond rose to a 1-1/2 year high of 11.51% after the ECB raised the maximum amount of emergency liquidity available to Greek lenders by 400 million euros, less than the 900 million euros requested by the Greek central bank. Greece faces more than 2 billion euros in debt payments on Friday, and government salaries and pensions must be paid at the end of this month. Meanwhile, the action by the FOMC on Wednesday to lower their estimate for U.S. interest rates sparked a rally in German bunds that sent the 10-year bund yield down to an all-time low of 0.170%. Asian stocks closed mixed: Japan -0.35%, Hong Kong +1.45%, China -0.16%, Taiwan +0.86%, Australia +1.86%, Singapore +0.73%, South Korea +0.30%, India -0.53%. Japanese stocks retreated after the yen jumped to a 2-1/2 week high against the dollar on Wednesday, which undercut the earnings prospects for exporters. Commodity prices are mixed. Apr crude oil (CLJ15 -3.78%) is down -3.11%. Apr gasoline (RBJ15 -1.43%) is down -0.94%. Apr gold (GCJ15 +1.09%) is up +1.09% at a 2-1/2 week high after the Fed yesterday signaled a slow pace of tightening. May copper (HGK15 +2.86%) is up +2.49%. Agriculture prices are higher. The dollar index (DXY00 +0.20%) is up +0.18%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -1.58%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.41%. Jun T-note prices (ZNM15 -0.04%) are up +0.5 of a tick at a 1-1/4 month high.
The ECB raised the maximum amount of emergency liquidity available to Greek banks by 400 million euros ($435 million), less than the 900 million euros requested by the Greek central bank. Greek banks were cut off from regular ECB funding operations in Feb, forcing them onto Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) from the Greek central bank. The 400 million euro increase from the ECB takes the ELA to near 70 billion euros.
