Thomson Reuters
Traders work with a floor official on the floor of the NYSE
Good Morning! US Futures are starting this Ash Wednesday in a bullish mood, with the S&P climbing 1% and Nasdaq 1.3% following strong overseas action where European shares rebound from 2-year lows, trying to snap a 7 session losing streak. The DAX is up 2.2%, while the Periphery is on fire, led by a 5% pop in Italy. Gains in Europe were led by the banking sector, which jumped 5.8% Wednesday after falling nearly 25% so far this year. DB was up by over 13%. Unsubstantiated chatter that the ECB Could Buy Bank Stocks as Part Of QE. Volumes are strong, with most markets trading 1.3x normal turnover. In London, Fins are regaining part of the 8% smack from earlier this week, while the materials sectors are lagging, led by 2%+ drops in some of the miners. Over in Asia, The Nikkei extended its 5% loss from Tuesday, dropping another 2.3% as exporters get smoked - Sydney ended the day down 1.2% to enter bear-market territory, while Singapore, returning from a two-day holiday, sank 2.1% - Energy firms were sharply hit. Markets elsewhere in Asia were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Sharp reversal of Haven trades ahead of Janet Yellen's testimony to US Congress later today - 8:30 her speech is released - 10am she reads it to Congress, and at10:30 Q&A Starts. The US 10YY is following other Sovereign yields higher - JGBs reversed an early fall into negative territory to settle at 0.02% while Bund yields are up small, after being rejected form yesterday's peaks. The Euro is breaking lower on Weak European Industrial Production #s, while $/Yen is trying to get back to flat after testing yesterday's 114.2 floor in the overnight hours. Gold is off 1.4%, retreating from 7 month highs - while Silver drops nearly 2%. All the metals are starting today under pressure - but eyes remain on the Crude Complex, which finds WTI higher by 2% as it navigates through a maelstrom of headlines - Russia floats idea of supply cut - Iran says they would agree to one - but OPEC reports January Output climbed 131k b/d in their monthly report. Last night API data showed a Inventory build smaller build than expected overall - but bigger product builds - Crude +2.4M (Street lookin for build 3.2M). Cushing +715k (Street at 270k) / Gasoline +3M (Street at +380k) / Distillates +1.7M (Street at -1.3M).
Ahead of us today, Yellen's speech is released at 8:30, ahead of ECB's Praet speaking in Washington at 9. Fed's Yellen Appears Before House Financial Services panel at 10am, and Q&A begins around 10:30 - right when Treasury Sec Lew testifies to Senate Finance Committee and those DOE Inventory numbers are released for Crude. At 1pm the US Treasury auctions off $23B in 10's, while Fed's Williams Speaks on Health and the Economy in LA at 1:30. 2pm we get the Monthly Budget Statement from the US Treasury.