I am working on a MSFT earnings preview that will be out later this morning. In the meantime, here are the highlights from markets overnight:
- Asia continued to be the region of strength, with all major indices rallying quite strongly, as Shanghai was up 1.25%, and Japan was up 2%. China’s industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment data exceeded expectations, so fears of Chinese slowing eased.
- I’m keeping my eye on the Japanese Yen as the currency nears 3 month lows vs. the dollar. The Japanese officials have been scrambling to weaken their currency, and it might finally be working. Possible trade there in the future.
- Europe has traded around the unchanged mark most of the session. NOK reported earnings, and the stock is up about 6% as losses were not as bad as expected.
- SPX futures have traded in a tight range, down 0.1% at 7:10 am EDT. The dollar and Treasuries are up a tad, and commodities down a bit.