Morning Call For Thursday, Dec. 28

OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH18 +0.09%) this morning are up +0.09% as strength in mining stocks lifts the overall market. Mining stocks gained as Mar COMEX copper (HGH18 +0.49%) climbed +0.50% to a new 3-3/4 year high and as Feb COMEX gold (GCG18 +0.22%) rises +0.26% to a 4-week high. Copper continues to find support on global production concerns after Jiangxi Copper Co, China’s largest producer, halted all copper production after the local government ordered the company to stop production for at least a week because of local pollution levels. Gold prices garnered support on a weak dollar as the dollar index fell to a 4-week low. European stocks are down -0.19%, led by losses in technology stocks. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan -0.56%, Hong Kong +0.90%, China +0.63%, Taiwan +0.77%, Australia +0.30%, Singapore +0.22%, South Korea +1.40%, India -0.19%. Strength in Japanese economic data on Nov industrial production and retail sales gave the yen a boost, which undercut Japanese exporter stocks and led the Nikkei Stock Index lower.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.32%) is down -0.33% at a 4-week low. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.49% at a 1-month high on an upbeat economic assessment from the ECB who said, “the Eurozone economic expansion continues to be solid and broad-based across countries and sectors.” USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.42% at a 1-week low.

Mar 10-year T-note prices (ZNH18 -0.11%) are down -4.5 ticks.

The ECB in its monthly Economic Bulletin said, “the Eurozone economic expansion continues to be solid and broad-based across countries and sectors with underlying inflation expected to rise gradually over the medium-term.”

Japan Nov industrial production rose +0.6% m/m, stronger than expectations of +0.5% m/m.

Japan Nov retail sales rose +1.9% m/m, stronger than expectations of +0.7% m/m and the biggest monthly increase in 13-months.

U.S. STOCK PREVIEW

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) weekly initial unemployment claims (expected -5,000 to 240,000, previous +20,000 to 245,000) and continuing claims (expected -32,000 to 1.900 million, previous +43,000 to 1.932 million), (2) Nov wholesale inventories (expected +0.3%, Oct -0.5% m/m), (3) Dec Chicago PMI (expected -1.9 to 62.0, Nov -2.3 to 63.9), (4) EIA weekly Petroleum Status Report, (5) Treasury auctions $28 billion of 7-year T-notes.