Thomson Reuters
Morning, and Happy Friday! 3day Weekend ahead! US futures are approaching the Holiday weekend in a good mood, with the Minis up 1%+ as the Spoos try to bounce from a 22month low - Banks acting well pre-market following overseas moves and headers that JPM's Dimon buys a slug. European shares are jumping, with the DAX gaining 1.6% in very heavy turnover (1.5x normal) - Banking stocks across Europe are jumping on strong #s from Commerzbank, but we need DB to stay away from that "Dead Cat" bounce formation. Big cover in Miners have London up nearly 2% - Anglo, Glencore and BHP all 5%+ as the commodity complex pops. Over in Asia, Angst remains high Ahead of China Re-open on Monday. The Nikkei was smacked for almost 5% as Banks collapsed and exporters reeled from the stronger Yen as Japan played catchup from Holiday - Tech was crushed in Korea with their tech-focused Kosdaq halted limit down early - Aussie's banks got whacked, hitting Sydney for 1.1%. Most EM Asia all closed lower.
Slight reversal of Havens this AM, as the US 10YY is climbing slightly, and Gold seeing profit taking after best day in many years. The DXY is breaking a bit higher, as Euro hit with their GDP showing weakness in PIGS, Portugal's Yields are jumping again, but Greece GDP not as bad as feared. All eyes on the $/Y hanging near 15M lows despite Abe Minions doubling-down on his rhetoric - a solid reject at 113 is today's initial key resistance. Commodities are mostly better despite the stronger $ - with Oil up 4% on UAE OPEC headers, but many discount as little matters till Saudi speaks - Gasoline in a full ripper, climbing 5% as more refineries curb production, but Natty remains red despite forecasts for 100yr Cold Records to be broken this weekend in Manhattan.
Ahead of us today, we get some key proxies for the US Consumer - At 8:30 we get Advance Retail sales for January; Import Price Index - at 10 Fed speaker Dudley Answers Questions at Press Briefing in New York, right when headers for Business Inventories and U. of Mich. Sentiment hit. At 1pm we get that Rig Count - it has dropped each of the last 7 weeks. 3:30 brings us the CFTC "Commitment of Traders" data. Down in Washington, we should get passage of the latest North Korea sanctions bill.