5 Things to Read Before Trading Today

From the Desk of Lou Brien

1. Stocks were lower across Asia overnight. The Nikkei lost about one and a half percent on the session, the Hang Seng was down 1.3%, Shanghai fell one percent and Australia slipped 0.3%. Europe is currently straddling unchanged and US stock futures are down just a fraction as I write.
2. The March reading of Switzerland’s Produce and Import Prices was +0.5% on the month, one tenth stronger than forecast. On a year over year basis the index was 0.0%.
3. Among the earnings reports out this morning are: Bank of America Q1 eps +28 cents, above the estimate for +10 cents; and GE Q1 eps +21 cents, above the estimate for +16 cents, but they were a slight miss on Revenues; $36.61 billion versus the estimate of 436.98 billion.
4. The March reading of Housing Starts is due out at 7:30am CDT. Starts are expected to rise 6.1% from the month before to an annualized rate of 610k. The estimate for Building Permits is 625k, or down 1.9% from a revised February result. The preliminary April reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is due out at 8:55am CDT, it is forecast to be 75.0, up from 73.6 in March.
5. Fed Governor Warsh is slated to speak on “Beyond the Exit” at 8:00am CDT at the Minsky conference in New York. Also scheduled to appear at that conference is Kansas City Fed boss Hoenig, he will begin his talk at noon CDT.