TradeTheNews.com US Market Update

Friday, March 16, 2012 10:38:32 AM

DJIA +8 S&P500 +0.5 NASDAQ +1

***Economic Data***
- (RU) Russia Feb Industrial Production Y/Y: 6.5% v 4.3%e
- (RU) Russia Feb Producer Prices M/M: 1.1% v 1.0%e; Y/Y: 7.0% v 8.0%e
- (CA) Canada Jan Int'l Securities Transactions: -C$4.2B v +C$9.0Be
- (CA) Canada Jan Manufacturing Sales M/M: -0.9% v 0.2%e
- (US) Feb Consumer Price Index M/M: 0.4% v 0.4%e; CPI Ex Food & Energy M/M: 0.1% v 0.2%e; CPI NSA: 227.663 227.954e
- (PL) Poland Feb Employment M/M:-0.1% v 0.0%e; Y/Y: 0.5% v 0.6%e
- (PL) Poland Feb Avg Gross Wages M/M: -2.7% v -1.9%e; Y/Y: 4.3% v 5.3%e
- (US) Feb Industrial Production: 0.0% v 0.4%e; Capacity Utilization: 78.7% v 78.8%e
- (US) Mar Preliminary University of Michigan Confidence: 74.3 v 76.0e
- US equity markets dipped briefly into the red this morning thanks to a slightly disappointing preliminary March U of Michigan confidence reading, but returned quickly to unchanged. There was some concern about the U of M one-year inflation expectations, which are at 4%, their highest level since May 2011. However the February CPI data was subdued, and consumers seem to be showing some resilience to +$4.00/gal gasoline costs. Analysts believe that if costs rose to $5.00, there could be more problems for the economy. The greenback weakened following the CPI data, which gave traders and excuse to unwind recent USD long positions after a week of sharp gains in US Treasury yields and equity prices. EUR/USD rebounded to test the 1.3150 by mid morning. Crude popped a bit higher this morning after yesterday's declines amid rumors of a possible SPR release, with front-month WTI h offered poor first-quarter forecasts. AK Steel and Steel Dynamics both warned that their peading back toward the $106 handle. - Two more steel namesrofits will be highly constrained in Q1 due to lower shipments, lower margins and higher costs. AK Steel warned that it would be in the red in Q1, but also said that Q2 shipments and operating would improve in the second quarter, aided by lower raw material costs. Yesterday, Nucor's Q1 guidance was around half the expected figure for Q1, due to LIFO charges. AKS, STLD and NUE are all up about 2.5% this morning. Small solar player ReneSola is up a whopping 20% this morning, thanks to a huge revenue outperformance in Q4 and excellent guidance for Q1.
***Looking Ahead***
- 11:00 (MX) Mexico Central Bank Interest Rate Decision: Expected to keep the Overnight Rate unchanged at 4.50%
- 11:00 (US) Fed to sell $8-8.75B in Notes
- 12:00 (PT) Portugal Fin Min Gaspar speaks in Washington DC
- 13:00 (BR) Brazil Feb CAGED Formal Job Creation: 190.0Ke v 118.9K prior
- 13:00 (IT) Italy Industrial Min Passera
- 15:00 (US) Fed Evans
***Weekend****
Sat 21:30 (CN) China February Property Prices

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