OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS
Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM16 +0.29%) are up +0.34% and European stocks are up +0.37% as a +0.50% rally in crude oil to a 2-1/2 week high boosts energy producers. Mining stocks are higher as well, led by a 5% gain in Anglo American Plc, as the price of gold climbed +0.11% to a 3-week high and after Anglo’s De Beers unit forecast stronger diamond sales. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan +1.13%, Hong Kong +0.31%, China -0.34%, Taiwan-0.37%, Australia +0.89%, Singapore +0.19%, South Korea +0.68%, India +0.49%. Japanese bank stocks rallied helped pushed the Nikkei Stock Index higher after the BOJ reduced the portion of bank funds subject to negative interest rates. Also, exporters gained after the yen stabilized following a 7-day rally.
The dollar index (DXY00 -0.02%) is down -0.10% at a 7-1/2 month low. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.06% at a 5-3/4 month high after German Mar wholesale price posted their largest monthly increase in 10 months. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.36%.
Jun T-note prices (ZNM16 -0.23%) are down -9 ticks.
Bundesbank President Weidmann is quoted in a Financial Times interview as saying “the ECB has to deliver on its price stability mandate and thus an expansionary monetary policy stance is appropriate at this juncture regardlesss of different views about specific measures.”
The German Mar wholesale price index rose +0.3% m/m, the largest monthly increase in 10 months. Year-on-year, Mar wholesale prices fell -2.6% y/y and matched the Jan 2015 decline as the largest year-on-year decline in 6-1/3 years.
U.S. STOCK PREVIEW
Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Mar import price index (expected +1.0% m/m and -4.7% y/y, Feb -0.3% m/m and -6.1% y/y), (2) Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker’s speech on the economic outlook at an event in Philadelphia, (3) the Treasury’s auction of $24 billion of 3-year T-notes, (4) Mar Treasury monthly budget statement (expected -$104.0 billion, Feb -$192.6 billion), (5) San Francisco Fed President John Williams’ speech at the LendIt USA 2016 Conference in San Francisco, (6) Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker’s speech on “Economic Leadership in an Uncertain World” at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cameron School of Business and (7) USDA Apr WASDE crop production.
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