Wake Up Call - Really Durable Goods

Major U.S. indices have opened up nicely this morning, driven by better than expected March durable goods orders and some more strong EPS reports from America's large multinationals. Today's drivers are Boeing and PepsiCo, and others. At 10:00 this morning March new home sales will be reported, and could impact trading. See "The Greek's Week Ahead" for your weekly market-moving event planner.

Asia:
Hang Seng Index -0.18%; Shanghai/Shenzhen CSI 300 +0.09%; NIKKEI 225 -1.24%; S&P/ASX 200 -0.34%; Taiwan TAIEX -0.75%; BSE SENSEX 30 +0.57%; KRX 100 -0.83%; Ho Chi Minh +2.03%

U.K., Europe & Middle East:
DJ STOXX 50 Index +0.52%; FTSE 100 +0.58%; CAC 40 +1.3%; DAX +1.0%; Russian RTS Index +0.55%; ASE General +0.87%; Tel Aviv 25 +0.39%; Tadawul All Share +0.97%; DFM General -0.92%

Our value-added take on today's key news:

• *** The March durable goods orders report this morning reinforced the strength of global demand seen also in the performance of the large multinationals driving the Dow this week. March orders rose 3.4%, exceeding expectations for a 2.5% increase. Orders excluding expensive transportation equipment, which can skew the reading, increased 1.5%, again beating estimates for an increase of 1.1%.
• *** Pending 10:00 a.m. report, March new home sales are seen rising, to 890,000 from 848,000 in February. The existing home sales market dwarfs new sales, and should be viewed as the more important barometer of housing health and its impact to the economy. New home sales can help us to measure housing health's current impact to the home builders specifically, in our view.
• *** Today's earnings calendar is a full one. See Yahoo!'s schedule for today's EPS reports. Boeing reported earnings ahead of expectations, but in keeping forecasts for the full year unchanged, it has kept the share rise tempered. PepsiCo (PEP), another large multinational, exceeded estimates today as well.
• *** Weekly mortgage applications rose 3.6% in the week ended April 20, driven by a decrease in mortgage rates.
• *** Wall Street Greek told you when the news broke that Steve Jobs seemed liable to us, and that no CEO should be held above the law, no matter how important he may be to an industry. Apple's (AAPL) ex-CFO is claiming that he informed Jobs of the earnings implication to the options pricing decision. We believe that it's likely the SEC will be a negative catalyst to the shares, as Jobs comes under intense scrutiny.

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