10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

Crimea's parliament votes to secede from Ukraine and become a part of Russia. There will be a region-wide referendum in Crimea, which is heavily ethnically Russian, on March 16. While tensions between the two countries have cooled since the beginning of the week, Russian troops without insignia control Crimea and surround Ukrainian military facilities despite pressure from the international community to stop the incursion.

Meanwhile, Congress will vote on sanctions against Russia. The House will vote on a measure to grant $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine, and Congressional Republicans are also pushing for a strong condemnation of Russia. "The House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to consider a non-binding resolution that would condemn Russian actions, call for sanctions on that country's officials, banks and other state agencies, and urge members of the G-8 to consider expelling Russia from the group," Bloomberg reports.

The ECB releases its decision on interest rates at 7:45 a.m. ET. While the consensus estimate is for no change, "Economists at Citi, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, and a few other shops think the ECB will pull the trigger on Thursday, announcing a cut to its benchmark refinancing rate - which currently stands at 0.25% - by either 10 or 15 basis points," reported Business Insider's Matthew Boesler. Mario Draghi's monthly press conference will follow the announcement. Meanwhile, the Bank of England kept interest rate unchanged at 0.50% and asset purchases at £375 billion, in line with economist expectations.

Initial jobless claims come out at 8:30 a.m. Economists expect claims fell to 338,000 from 348,000 a week ago. "Initial jobless claims likely fell after an unexpected rise," wrote Citi's Peter D'Antonio. "The four-week moving average probably stayed in the prevailing 330K to 340K range."

Then at 10:00 a.m., we'll get factory orders. Economists are looking for a 0.5% dip in January. "Durable goods orders fell 1.0%, with all the weakness accounted for by a pullback in the volatile aircraft category, and we look for a small gain in nondurable goods prices, with a pullback in petroleum product prices a drag on nominal shipments," wrote Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman. "The inventory/sales ratio has been quite steady in the manufacturing sector in the past few years and should show a bit of upside in January but stay within recent ranges."

Global markets were higher in overnight trading. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.59% and Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.22%. Markets across Europe were in the green, and U.S. futures pointed to a positive open.

Introducing "5 Questions," a new feature where we ask top economists and strategists for their views on the market. Today's interview is with John Stoltzfus, chief market strategist at Oppenheimer.

BUSINESS INSIDER: To what extent do you think poor weather has impacted this winter's economic data?

JOHN STOLTZFUS: Reports we've seen have indicated that some 200 million people in the U.S. were touched in some way by these storms. That's close to two thirds of the population! To us that says the weather had genuine material impact on retail sales, auto sales, housing sales, travel, hiring and more.

BI: What's the big story that nobody is talking about right ?

JS: No one wants to talk about just how unprepared the Baby Boomer generation is for the years when they will no longer be able to work. Investment and Insurance firms certainly provide informational commercials as background in the media on this but it does not appear that Washington or the folks on Main Street are considering the unpreparedness as the potential for crisis that it may be.

BI: Are you optimistic about Janet Yellen as Fed chair?

JS: Yes. Have followed Janet Yellen for years prior to her selection as Fed Chair and find her to have the deep bench of experience as an Economist and as a Fed official - aka. the provenance the job requires - particularly for the times at hand.

BI: The stock market is roaring back to all time highs. Do issues in EM not have as big an impact on U.S. markets as people argued a few weeks ago?

JS: The recent "tremor effect" the Emerging market currency problems delivered to developed markets earlier this quarter indicated to us that indeed de-coupling has been debunked once again. That said, it has seemed clear to us for quite some time that it would be the U.S. first followed by Europe, Japan and the other developed nations of the world that would and are leading the emerging markets and the rest of the world away from what was the Great Crisis of 2008.

BI: What's something you'll be watching this week and next?

JS: The market's response to the wrap up of Q4 earnings season as well as the effects of the economic data crossing the U.S. and global transom day- to-day. [This] week, it's about the non-farm payroll number. After the disappointing figures of the last two months it's, "Baby needs a new pair of shoes" time!

And now back to 10 Things...

China eases back on the 7.5% growth goal. China's finance minister Lou Jiwei said that the government's most important goal was to create jobs, and that it's fine for China to slightly miss its lofty 7.5% economic growth target as long as the labor market is healthy. "Let's say for instance, this year's economic growth is not 7.5 percent, but 7.3 percent or 7.2 percent. Does this count as around 7.5 percent? Yes, it counts," he said.

IBM workers in China go on strike. More than 1,000 employees went on strike at an IBM factory in southeastern China. IBM is set to sell its Chinese computer service business, which includes the factory, to Lenovo, and the strikers are pushing for better wages and conditions. The demonstration represents a growth in worker activism in China lately.

Costco's profit falls 15%. The discount club reported earnings this morning, posting a profit of $463 million ($1.05 a share), compared with $547 million ($1.24 a share) a year earlier. Analysts were expecting EPS of $1.17.

Global food prices spike in February. Food prices had their sharpest climb since mid-2012 due to higher commodity prices, Reuters reports. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization's price index - which looks at monthly changes in dairy, meat, sugar, and other commodities - came in at 208.1 points in February, up 5.2 points from January.

Guggenheim's Chris Krueger explains how the Ukrainian loan guarantee works:

The Europeans have pledged $15B over two years (combination of cash, project financing, reconstruction development, technical assistance, etc.). The bill moving today in the House (and shortly the Senate) allows Ukraine access to loan guarantees up to ~$1B over five years, which would be drawn out of an existing State Department account. This is not a billion-dollar check, but rather a sovereign loan guarantee that the U.S. government agrees to guarantee the repayment of part or all of the principal and interest of Ukraine's sovereign borrowing (up to $1B). The State Department estimates that the subsidy may be 20-30% of the face amount of the bonds for 5 years, which they currently estimate would require at least $200M in foreign assistance funding. These funds have already been identified in the State Department's existing budget, though Congress has to give State the authorization to release the funds (hence the bill). An IMF team landed in Ukraine this week to begin work on a separate (and very likely required) additional aid package. To finance its budget and debt in 2014, Ukraine needs to borrow between $20B-$35B (depending on the forecast, per the House Foreign Affairs Committee).