OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS
Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM16 -0.61%) are down -0.51% and European stocks are down -0.51%. Energy producers are lower with crude oil down -0.19%, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is down nearly 3% in pre-market trading and is leading automaker stocks lower after it said it is indefinitely laying off 1,300 employees at a Michigan factory. Cautious comments from ECB President Draghi undercut stocks as well when he said “We face uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy.” Concern over the global outlook pushed raw material producing stocks lower as well as the price of copper dropped -2.08% to a 1-month low. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan +0.22%, Hong Kong +0.29%, China -1.38%, Taiwan -0.27%, Australia +0.37%, Singapore +0.08%, South Korea +0.12%, India -0.86%. Japanese stocks closed higher, despite a fall in USD/JPY to a fresh 17-month low, after the Mar 15-16 FOMC meeting minutes showed the Fed won't rush to raise interest rates.
The dollar index (DXY00 -0.13%) is down -0.01% at a fresh 5-1/2 month low. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.16% and fell back from a 5-1/2 month high on speculation the ECB may expand stimulus measures after ECB President Draghi said that policy makers won't “surrender” to excessively low price growth. USD/JPY (^USDJPY)is down -1.37% at a fresh 17-month low.
Jun T-note prices (ZNM16 +0.17%) are up +6.5 ticks.
ECB President Draghi said that policy makers won't “surrender” to excessively low price growth. “We face uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy, continued disinflationary forces, and we face questions about the direction of and its resilience to new shocks.”
U.S. STOCK PREVIEW
Key U.S. news today includes: (1) weekly initial unemployment claims (expected -6,000 to 270,000, previous +11,000 to 276,000) and continuing claims (expected -3,000 to 2.170 million, previous -7,000 to 2.173 million), (2) Feb consumer credit (expected +14.9 billion, Jan +$10.538 billion), (3) Fed Chair Yellen's participation in a discussion with former Fed chiefs Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volker, and (4) Kansas City Fed President Esther George's speech about the U.S. economy at an event in York, NE.
