Economic Data


- (ES) Spain Jan Trade Balance: -€3.5B v -€1.3B prior
- (UK) Mar CBI Industrial Trends Total Orders: -15 v -15e; Selling Prices: 5 v 17
- (IE) Ireland Q4 GDP Q/Q: 0.0% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 0.0% v 0.3%e; Current Account Balance: €2.9B v €3.1B prior
- (IE) Ireland Feb PPI M/M: 0.0% v -0.3% prior; Y/Y: +0.2% v -0.4% prior
- (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 336K v 340Ke; Continuing Claims: 3.053M v 3.050Me
- (CA) Canada Jan Retail Sales M/M: 1.0% v 0.9%e; Retail Sales Less Autos M/M: 0.5% v 0.3%e
- (US) Mar Preliminary Markit US PMI Manufacturing: 54.9 v 54.8e
- (US) Jan House Price Index M/M: 0.6% v 0.7%e
- (US) Mar Philadelphia Fed: +2.0 v -3.0e
- (US) Feb Existing Home Sales: 4.98M v 5.0Me
- (US) Feb Leading Indicators: 0.5% v 0.4%e

- There is no shortage of bad news in markets this morning to keep US equities in the red. The Cyprus situation is no closer to resolution, the first reading of the March German manufacturing PMI data indicated the series has returned to contraction and Oracle reported very weak Q3 results. On the bright side, the March Philly Fed survey roared back to positive after Feb’s big negative reading and the prelim Markit PMI manufacturing was pretty good. As of writing the DJIA is -0.35%, the S&P500 is -0.31% and the Nasdaq is -0.65%.


- Pressure is building on Cyprus to get a deal done to stave of financial disaster. With the Cyprus finance minister not making any headway with the Russians in Moscow, Cyprus government officials are discussing Plan B centered around the creation of a “solidarity fund” funded with various state assets. Eurozone officials say the nation would have to basically wind down their biggest banks and wipe out depositors if they didn’t agree to the proposed levy, but comments from various sources suggest the levy is a dead letter. Note that yesterday the ECB told Cyprus that it has until Monday to reach a deal or emergency ELA funding would be cut off.


- The JPY encountered a bit of profit-taking after weeks of speculation what actions the new BOJ Governor Kuroda would take. At his introductory press conference, Kuroda said all the right things but there was little the market wasn’t already expecting. USD/JPY remains well below the 95 handle though the European and US session, trading around 95.20 as of writing.


- Oracle missed consensus estimates by a hair in its Q3 report yesterday, with softness seen in its new software sales figures. The firm’s hardware business continues to decay and the company warned that it would lose more ground in Q4. Executives also said the firm’s turnaround would take longer. ORCL is down 9%.


- Lululemon’s Q4 results were watched for signs of stress following recent declines. The firm met expectations by warned its FY13 would not meet expectations because of the recent product recalls. LULU is flat on the session. Retail names Cato and JCP are down on terrible quarterly results and some negative analyst commentary. CATO is down 7% and JCP is down 4%.



Looking Ahead


- 12:00 (CO) Colombia Q4 GDP Q/Q: No est v -0.7% prior; Y/Y: 3.0%e v 2.0% prior; 2012 GDP Annual Growth Rate: No est v 5.9% prior
- 12:45 (NZ) New Zealand Q4 GDP Y/Y: No est v 2.0% prior
- 12:30 (CA) Canada Dep. Governor Cote speech in Montreal
- 13:00 (US) Treasury to sell $13B in 10-Year TIPS Reopening
- 15:00 (AR) Argentina Feb Trade Balance: No est v $280M prior
- 16:00 (CA) Canada Fin Min Flaherty gives details on 2013-14 budget, economic plan