Credit: Traders continue to focus on the political and financial woes in the euro zone. The U.S. markets have now hit lows not seen for two months with the Dow establishing a six day losing streak not seen since last August. The Dow is dangerously close to printing the largest weekly decline this year!
India's markets are back on the ropes with two straight days of losses, closing at levels not seen in 16 weeks.
The post-Greek election and Spain's banking system woes hit Asian shares as well.
The worsening global risk environment is combining with concerns over taxation of foreign investment in India and doubts about the country's economic and fiscal outlook.
India's markets are turning defensive with foreign investors now net sellers. Foreign invstors sold roughly Rs.10billion ($187 million) the last two sessions.
Forex gains helped Ranbaxy Laboratories ( RBXZF , quote ) to post a 4.2% pop in net profits from its Lipitor sales.
Euro zone stocks dropped for the third session in a row. Traders pushed the market back down after early gains, although hard hit Spanish stocks rebounded. Traders are turning their focus on tomorrow's announcement from the Spanish government on new rules for bank provisions against real estate assets.
The market will be getting a lot of new economic data today. At 8:30am traders get 3 key reports that will help determine the health of the world's largest market: initial jobless claims, the March U.S. trade deficit and April import prices.
Analysts are expecting the following:
Initial jobless claims are expected to be 370,000 for the week ending May 5, an increase of 5,000 from the prior week.
The March U.S. trade deficit is expected to rise to $50 billion from February's $46 billion.
April import prices are expected to tick up by 0.2%.
Other major economic data releases today are:
April Federal Budget numbers are reported at 2 p.m. EDT.
The Energy Department's weekly natural gas inventories report is released at 10:30 a.m. EDT.
In England, analysts are expecting key interest rates to be unchanged at 0.5%.
A look at global companies to watch today:
Cisco Systems ( CSCO , quote ) reported fiscal Q3 earnings at $0.48 per share, a 1 cent beat, however the Q4 earnings and revenue forecast fell short of estimates.
News Corp. ( NWSA , quote ) reported fiscal Q3 earnings of $0.37 per share, a beat of 6 cents, with revenues above forecasts. News Corp announced a $5 billion stock buyback program.
Priceline.com ( PCLN , quote ) crushed analysts' estimates by reporting Q1 profits of $4.28 per share, where estimates were for $3.95 per share. Performance was helped by a jump in travel bookings and growth in international markets, however the company did caution that growth will slow down in the current quarter.
Sony ( SNE , quote ) announced that it expects to return to profitability in the current fiscal year. Sony has posted 4 straight years of losses.
Commodity Marker - Electronic Trading
Precious Metal Corner
Precious metals once again fell like a rock yesterday. The bears took charge and nearly removed both gold and silvers gains for 2012 on continuing political uncertainty in Greece, as well as worries concerning Spain's banks. This is precious metals' third straight daily drop and is now in a technical selloff. Click here for more technical analysis on gold.
ETF Holdings
Holdings in the world's largest gold backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust ( GLD , quote ) held steady at 1,274.99 tons as of May 09.
The iShares Silver Trust ( SLV , quote ) dropped to 9,465.08 tons on May 09. SLV is the world's largest silver backed ETF.
Egyptian miner Centamin reported quarterly production at its flagship Sukari gold mine jumped by 9%.
Fundamental outlook
Precious metals are starting out basically flat on early trading. Look for prices to trade lower as the technicals are in charge coupled with continuing worries surrounding the political deadlock in Greece, and Spain's financial system problems.
Looking at the pre-market we find:
7 Days Group Holdings Ltd ( SVN , quote )
GlaxoSmithKline PLC ( GSK , quote )
J Sainsbury PLC ( JSAIY , quote )
The earnings calendar remains quiet for the remainder of the week with no names reporting on the Emerging Money Index until next week. Next on deck:
RDY - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd before the bell.
PBR - 5/11/12 after the close.
VIP - 5/15/12 before the bell.
Bottom Line : U.S. futures are suggesting a higher open today with basically the same euro zone headlines. Traders will be looking at the economic data to change the focus from the euro zone to the U.S. If this happens, look for emerging markets with ties to the U.S. such as China and India to take notice and any pop in names in the portfolio could be opportunitiesto lighten the position.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
