Greece and China...China and Greece. Once again, investors are focused on the overseas action.
China's economic slowdown is of great concern, but more important is the expected Chinese response to continue and even accelerate its accommodative economic policies.
In Europe, the difficult negotiations in Greece continue to make investors uneasy as the International Monetary Fund and the country's negotiators continue to not be aligned on key pension and labor reforms.
It is notable though that European markets were trading higher this morning, perhaps out of fatigue with the ever-present aforementioned concerns, or driven higher by a positive economic forecast as the European commission bumped its forecast for the eurozone to 1.5% GDP growth in 2015, up from its previous call in February for 1.3% growth.
The dollar continued to strengthen against the euro this morning as the uncertainty continues to weigh on the single European currency.
In other overseas action, Australia's central bank cut its interest rates to 2% from 2.25% joining the parade of central banks continuing to take action to prop up their economies.
Some notable earnings reports expected today include: Office Depot (ODP), Emerson Electric (EMR), Growth Seeker's TRW Automotive (TRW) and Allot Communications (ALLT), Noble Energy (NBL), DirecTV (DTV), Estee Lauder (EL), Sprint (S), Walt Disney (DIS), Energizer (ENR), Kellogg (K), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS), Electronic Arts (EA), Groupon (GRPN), SolarCity (SCTY), Allstate (ALL), Herbalife (HLF) and Devon Energy (DVN).
Today's economic calendar includes the March Trade Balance at 8:30 a.m. with estimates calling for -$41.7billion, the Markit U.S. Composite final April PMI at 9:45, the April ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite at 10 a.m. with consensus at 56.2, and API weekly oil inventories at 4:30 p.m.
Happy trading!
