What are traders chatting about this morning? Greece.
Good Morning! S&P futures are 70bp better than Germany's, as the $ drop + Greece + Ukraine weigh on our European brethren. Get ready for Headline Bombs - FinMins are arriving for the Eurogroup meeting - A post-meeting press conference should be around 12ET. Yanis Varoufakis has made clear he is coming to Luxembourg with no new proposals, while Greek papers spew "Chowder" that debt relief plans are being drawn, causing Athens to rally 4% from morning's lows (but rolling back). Consumers and Financials continue to weigh on Europe's bourses, with volume tracking 20-30% heavier than normal. Over in Asia, Shanghai dropped almost 4% amid IPO and Margin concerns - The Stronger Yen hit the Nikkei 225 for 1.1% ahead of the Bank of Japan tonight - The KOSPI eeked out a small gain as MERS fears subside, while Aussie dropped 1.3% as financials saw renewed weakness and miners struggled in the wake of a sharp drop in iron ore prices.
The US 10YY remains under pressure, testing 2.26% in the overnight on several occasions - while 30's get closer to a 3% test. German Bunds seeing some "haven" buying on Grexit concerns, while Greek debt's weakness is bleeding slightly into the peripheries. With the DXY nearing 4week lows, we have a sharp bid for commodities - led by a 1.8% pop in Silver, followed closely by Gold (which failed a $1200 test overnight). The Oil complex has rallied overnight for 1%, but there were heavy US Sell tickets going out yesterday - so let's see what floor trading brings in Crude. Scheduled Catalysts Include Weekly Jobless Claims at 8:30, along with US CPI and Current Account Balance. At 10 we get the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook and Leading Index - ahead of 10:30 Natty Inventory release from the DOE. Inflation players will be focused on the TIPs re-opening at 1.