Day Traders Diary

3/26/15

U.S. equity futures trade near their pre-market lows amid defensive action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover 13 points below fair value after retreating throughout the night.

The pullback in futures has taken place despite dollar weakness that has the Dollar Index (96.54, -0.44) trading lower by 0.5%. However, it is worth noting that the yen has made the biggest move against the greenback (+0.7%), suggesting foreign exchange traders are seeking safety. The dollar/yen pair currently trades near 118.70.

Geopolitical developments may have played a part in the cautious posture with overnight reports indicating Saudi Arabia carried out air strikes against rebel forces in Yemen. Yesterday, it was reported that Yemen's President Hadi fled his country by sea.

The developments in the Middle East have boosted crude oil futures. WTI crude is currently higher by 4.5% at $51.41/bbl.

Today's economic data will be limited to weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 290K), which will be reported at 8:30 ET.

Treasuries hold slim gains with the 10-yr yield lower by a basis point at 1.92%.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

Accenture (ACN 90.55, +2.34): +2.7% in reaction to a one-cent beat.

ConAgra Foods (CAG 35.50, +0.56): +1.6% after beating recently-lowered estimates and raising its guidance.

Five Below (FIVE 34.00, +1.78): +5.5% after better than expected earnings overshadowed below-consensus guidance.

Lululemon (LULU 59.65, -1.31): -2.2% after cautious guidance overshadowed better than expected earnings.

Red Hat (RHT 72.50, +4.05): +5.9% after beating estimates and announcing a $500 million buyback; however, the company issued below-consensus revenue guidance.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Asian markets ended mostly lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.1%, Japan's Nikkei -1.4%, and China's Shanghai Composite +0.6% 

In economic data: 

Hong Kong's trade deficit narrowed to HKD35.90 billion from HKD37.00 billion (expected deficit of HKD54.60 billion). Imports -0.9% month-over-month (expected 6.0%; prior 7.9%) and exports +7.2% (consensus 4.9%; last 2.8%)

South Korea's Consumer Confidence fell to 101 from 103 (expected 104)

Singapore's February Industrial Production +4.1% month-over-month (expected -0.7%; last -4.7%); -3.6% year-over-year (consensus -3.4%; previous 1.3%)

In news: 

The People's Bank of China injected CNY10 billion this week, representing the first net increase in five weeks.

Major European indices trade lower across the board. UK's FTSE -1.4%, France's CAC -1.6%, and Germany's DAX -1.7%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB -1.8% and Spain's IBEX -1.2%

Participants received several data points: 

Eurozone February M3 Money Supply +4.0% year-over-year (consensus 4.3%; last 3.7%) and Private Sector Loans -0.1% year-over-year (consensus 0.1%; previous -0.2%)

Germany's GfK Consumer Climate improved to 10.0 from 9.7 (expected 9.8)

UK's February Retail Sales +0.7% month-over-month (consensus 0.4%; last 0.1%); +5.7% year-over-year (expected 4.7%; prior 5.9%). Core Retail Sales +0.7% month-over-month (expected 0.4%; prior -0.3%); +5.1% year-over-year (forecast 4.2%; last 5.2%). Separately, March CBI Distributive Trades Survey jumped to 18 from 1 (expected 15)

French Q4 GDP was left unrevised at 0.1%, as expected

Among news of note: 

The Bank of Spain released its Economic Bulletin, which raised the 2015 GDP forecast to 2.8% from 2.0%.