Morning Call For Friday, Sept. 21

Overnight Markets And News

Dec E-mini S&Ps (ESZ18 -0.03%) this morning are little changed, down -0.03%, and European stocks are up +0.65% at a 3-week high. Stock and commodity prices are climbing on optimism the global economic expansion can continue. Mining stocks and raw-material producers are leading gains in the overall market as metals prices climb with Dec COMEX copper (HGZ18 +1.84%) up +1.92% at a 6-week high. Signs of tighter copper supplies are boosting copper prices after weekly Shanghai copper inventories tumbled -23,537 MT to a 10-3/4 month low of 111,029 MT. Gains in U.S. stock indexes were limited due to weakness in technology stocks, led by a -3% decline in Micron in pre-market trading, after the company forecast weaker-than-expected Q1 sales. European stocks moved higher despite signs of slower manufacturing activity after the Eurozone Sep Markit manufacturing PMI fell -1.3 to 53.3, the slowest pace of expansion in 2-years. Asian stocks settled mostly higher: Japan +0.82%, Hong Kong +1.73%, China +2.50%, Taiwan +1.30%, Australia +0.41%, Singapore +1.17%, South Korea +0.59%, India -0.75%. China’s Shanghai Composite rallied to a 1-1/4 month high as market confidence has improved for Chinese stocks after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang late Wednesday said the government will adopt more significant tax cuts to help boost domestic consumption. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index rallied to a 7-3/4 month high and moved higher on the heels of the rally in the S&P 500 on Thursday to a new record high, along with weakness in the yen that boosts exporters’ earnings prospects as USD/JPY jumped to a 2-month high.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.13%) is up +0.15%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD -0.10%) is down -0.08%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY +0.17%) is up +0.21% at a 2-month high .

Dec 10-year T-note prices (ZNZ18 +0-010) are little changed, down -0.5 of a tick.

The German Sep Markit/BME manufacturing PMI fell -2.2 to 53.7, weaker than expectations of -0.2 to 55.7 and the slowest pace of expansion in 2-years.