DJIA and S&P500 See Fresh YTD Lows

Economic Data

- (UK) Mar CBI Industrial Reported Sales: 18 v 18e
- (BR) Brazil Mar FGV Construction Costs M/M: 0.4% v 0.2%e
- (IL) Israel Feb Unemployment Rate: 5.3% v 5.6% prior
- (RU) Russia Gold and Forex Reserve w/e Mar 20th: $352.9B v $351.7B prior
- (CZ) Czech Central Bank (CNB) left both Repurchase Rate and EUR/CZK cross floor unchanged at 0.05% and around 27.00, respectively, as expected
- (BR) Brazil Feb Unemployment Rate: 5.9% v 5.7%e
- (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 282K v 290Ke; Continuing Claims: 2.416M v 2.40Me
- (ZA) South Africa Central Bank (SARB) left Interest Rates unchanged at 5.75% (as expected)
- (US) Mar Preliminary Markit Services PMI: 58.6 v 57.0e; Composite PMI: 58.5 v 57.2 prior
- (NL) Netherlands Q4 Final GDP Q/Q: +0.8% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: +1.4% v 1.0%e
- (US) Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventories: +12 bcf vs. +8 to +12 bcf expected range

The momentum tech and biotech names are leading markets to their fourth day of losses this morning as both the S&P500 and the DJIA both dip into the red YTD. As of writing, the DJIA is down 0.47%, the S&P500 is off 0.40% and the Nasdaq is down 0.54%.

Weekly jobless claims fell to fresh five-year lows, while the preliminary Markit services PMI report was better than expected. The dollar has strengthened from the US premarket to now, with EUR/USD touching 1.1050 and then retreating more than a big figure to nearly 1.900. Hand in hand with dollar strength, the 10-year UST yield has bounced higher, rising more than five basis points to 1.978% from session lows around 1.920%.

The Atlanta Fed's Lockhart was on CNBC earlier this morning and acknowledged the economic data in the first quarter of 2015 has been very soft, although he also said the impact on the recovery would be transitory. Lockhart warned June would be a "live meeting" for rate hikes, with the fist hike happening sometime in the second half of 2015. Addressing the dollar, Lockhart said the FOMC sees USD strength as more of a question mark regarding growth than originally assumed.

A regional war in the Middle East is looking more possible this morning as Saudi Arabia builds a coalition of Arab nations to fight against the Houthi insurgency in Yemen. Saudi planes bombed various sites in the country starting yesterday and Riyadh has said ground troops may enter the country. WTI crude rose from $49 last night to highs earlier today around $52.50, although the contract is back around $50 as of writing. Brent crude came close to breaking above $60 before retreating to $58.

Shares of SanDisk are down 17% today after the firm slashed its first quarter and FY revenue guidance citing lower enterprise sales, lower pricing and "product qualification delays." SanDisk's cautious call has pulled Micron down 4%, but other memory names are already recouping their earlier losses.

Looking Ahead

- 13:30 (UK) BOE Gov Carney Financial Stability Board press conference
- 15:00 (MX) Mexico Central Bank (Banxico) Interest Rate Decision: Expected to leave Overnight Rate unchanged at 3.00%
- 15:00 (AR) Argentina Feb Industrial Production M/M: No est v 1.1% prior; Y/Y: -1.8%e v -2.1% prior
- (AR) Argentina Mar Consumer Confidence Index: No est v 50.5 prior
- 19:30 (JP) Japan Feb Jobless Rate: 3.5%e v 3.6% prior
- 19:30 (JP) Japan Feb National CPI Y/Y: 2.3%e v 2.4% prior; CPI Ex Fresh Food Y/Y: 2.1%e v 2.2% prior; CPI Ex Food, Energy Y/Y: 2.1%e v 2.1% prior
- 19:30 (JP) Japan Mar Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 2.3%e v 2.3% prior; CPI Ex Fresh Food Y/Y: 2.2%e v 2.2% prior; CPI Ex Food, Energy Y/Y: 1.7%e v 1.7% prior
- 19:50 (JP) Japan Feb Retail Sales M/M: +1.0%e v -1.9% prior (revised from -1.3%); Retail trade Y/Y: -1.4%e v -2.0% prior; Large Retailers' Sales: 0.9%e v 0.0% prior
- 21:30 (CN) China Feb Industrial Profits Y/Y: No est v -8.0% prior