With a economic calendar devoid of virtually any events, the only two events worth of note this morning are the Greek CDS auction (where RBS appears to once again be confusing price and discount), and the Apple cash announcement due in just over an hour. The result is Apple stock which in the premarket session has traded as high as a new record high og $606, even as concerns emerge that the growth phase is over as the company transitions into a MSFT-type, post-Steve Jobs existence. Details of the 9 am call can be found here [14]. Aside from that risk is broadly flat as hungover American traders take their seats.
From BofA:
Market Action
Overnight, Asian equity markets finished mixed following the mixed economic data in the US on Friday. Starting with the good news, the Japanese Nikkei finished 0.1% higher, to close higher for the fifth straight trading day. The recent weakness in the yen has helped boost shares in Japanese exporters. The Shanghai Composite finished 0.2% higher and the Korean Kospi closed a solid 0.6% above Friday's close. On the flip side, the Hang Seng sold off sharply, down 1.0%, and the Indian Sensex lost 1.1%.
In Europe, equities are trading 0.4% lower. The worst-performing country indices in the region are the French CAC, down 0.8%, and the German DAX, off 0.7%. At home, futures are pointing to a moderate sell-off, with the S&P 500 set to open 0.3% lower.
In the bond markets, Treasuries are rallying after selling off sharply last week. Investors are likely enticed by the jump in yields and are now stepping back into the market to take advantage of the higher yields. The 10-year yield is currently trading at 2.27%, down 2bp. Last week, the 10-year yield hit an intraday high of 2.36%. That is the highest yield on the 10-year Treasury since October 2011. In Europe, yields are selling off across the curve as well, with the UK gilt down 5bp and the German bund off 4bp.
The dollar is trading flat against a basket of other major currencies. Commodities are weaker - WTI crude oil is trading at $106.66, after falling 40 cents, and gold is down $5.60 an ounce, to trade at $1,654.48.
Overseas data wrap-up
Italian industrial orders fell by 5.6% yoy in January, worse than the consensus expectation of a 2.9% yoy contraction and weaker than the 4.3% yoy contraction in December. Sales fell by 4.4% yoy in January, down from a rise of 5.4% yoy in December. These results are not surprising, given the poor performance of industrial production in January, and are consistent with the expectation of a further sharp contraction of GDP in Q1. Our Euro area team expects the country's GDP to contract by 0.7% qoq in the first quarter.