Pre-Market Report - Fed Minutes, ISM Nonmanufacturing, ICSC Sales Data

Wake Up Call

Tuesday's focus should be on the Fed Minutes release and ISM Nonmanufacturing Index. Also look for weekly same-store sales data this morning and within this pre-market report. The corporate newswire highlights EPS from K.B. Home (NYSE: KBH) and International Speedway (Nasdaq: ISCA).

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Pre-Market Report

In the early AM, look for the International Council of Shopping Centers' (ICSC) Weekly Same-Store Sales Report. Last week's data covering the period ending March 26 showed same-store sales increased just 0.2% on a week-to-week basis, but that was an improvement from the prior week's 0.1% weekly sales decline. On a year-to-year basis, sales increased 2.6%, which compared to the prior week's 3.0% annual growth. Redbook reported a 2.6% yearly gain, versus the 2.4% gain it reported the week before. Look for the latest data before the opening bell Tuesday.

ISM's Nonmanufacturing Index for March will be published at 10:00 AM Tuesday. Bloomberg says economists are looking for a mirror image of February, with the index sticking at 59.7, which by the way was its six-year high. Economists' forecasts range from 57.7 to 68.8. Any reading above 50 still signifies economic expansion for the all important services sector of the American economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) releases its meeting minutes for its March gathering at 2:00 PM. Fed chatter is getting less predictable as we approach an inflection point, where the Fed will move from dovish to hawkish, barring new economic downtown. That is a possibility that is not out of the question. As it becomes less predictable, the FOMC releases have the ability to shock an uncertain marketplace.

Several Fed-Heads are due to speak Tuesday. Look for Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart's morning address at the Atlanta Bank's Financial Markets Conference. During the lunch hour, catch Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota's address at her bank's workshop on homeownership. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser is up to moderate a panel on weathering the financial crisis at 1:30 PM at the Atlanta Fed event.

In overseas news, look for markets to be closed in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Reserve Bank of Australia has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. GFMS will publish its 2011 copper survey.

On the corporate wire, look for IPO lockup curbs to expire on Ellington Financial (NYSE: EFC) and Global Education (Nasdaq: GEDU). Sasol (NYSE: SSL), Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) will be speaking with analysts and investors. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) takes part in the Cloudforce Paris 2011 event and the UBS Investment Bank Bus Tour Tuesday (NYSE: UBS).

The day's EPS schedule highlights news from Exceed (Nasdaq: EDS), International Speedway (Nasdaq: ISCA), Verint Systems (Nasdaq: VRNT), Zep (NYSE: ZEP), Angiodynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO), K.B. Home (NYSE: KBH), Layne Christensen (Nasdaq: LAYN), Mitcham Industries (Nasdaq: MIND), Mobile Telesystems (NYSE: MBT), Semileds (Nasdaq: LEDS) and some others.

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