Wall Street Greek: THURSDAY'S TRADE

By Kelly Barth:

With equity markets closed in the U.S. on Friday, a great deal of economic data is being bunched into Thursday. Three economic data points reach the wire in just the premarket. First of all, the GDP Report for the fourth quarter of 2012 is scheduled for revision. Economists are looking for GDP growth to be adjusted higher to 0.6%, up from 0.1% when last adjusted (from negative 0.1%). Cypriot banks reopened with some restrictions to limit a run on the banks from happening. The U.S. bond market closes early Thursday at 2:00 PM ET. Several markets around the world are closed for Holy Thursday. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: VOO) is unchanged in the premarket as a tug of war is taking place on the Street. Also catch our founder's reports on Blackberry (Nasdaq: BBRY) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) linked to below here.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims is due for report at 8:30. Last week’s report covering the period ending March 16 showed weekly claims increased by 2,000, to 336K. The four-week moving average for jobless claims improved by 7,500 last week, on its way down to 339,750.

At 9:45 AM, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is expected to show Chicago area business expanded at a slower rate. The index is seen dropping to 56.1 in March, down from 56.8 in February. Measures above 50.0 mark economic expansion.

Bloomberg’s Consumer Comfort Index fell last week by 2.3 points, to -33.9. The weekly measure of the consumer mood should be overshadowed this week by the monthly reports.

The EIA’s Natural Gas Report is due Thursday at 10:30 AM. Last week’s report covering the period ending March 15 showed working gas in storage declined by 62 Bcf. Stocks were 502 Bcf less than last year at this time, but still 162 Bcf above the five-year average for this time of year.

The Kansas City Fed issues its manufacturing index Thursday. Economists expect manufacturing improved in the middle of the nation, but remained in contraction. The index is expected to improve to negative 3.0 from negative 10 last month. Zero marks breakeven.

There will be a bankruptcy hearing today for Birmingham, Alabama.

The corporate wire has investor or analyst meetings for eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI). Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) is having a conference call to discuss a new product. Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK) is having an investor relations BIM update webinar. The CIBC Retail & Consumer Conference has a presentation by Target (NYSE: TGT). The EPS schedule highlights news from Blackberry (Nasdaq: BBRY). Last night, our founder wrote that Blackberry Reminds Me of Palm Just Before the End. He also noted that Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was half-way to his downside target. Also look for reports from Accenture (NYSE: ACN), GameStop (NYSE: GME), Mosaic (NYSE: MOS), China Nepstar Chain Drugstore (NYSE: NPD), Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC), AEHR Test Systems (Nasdaq: AEHR), Century Casinos (Nasdaq: CNTY), dELiA’s (Nasdaq: DLIA), Finish Line (Nasdaq: FINL), Fred’s (Nasdaq: FRED), Gentium (Nasdaq: GENT), Guanwei Recycling (Nasdaq: GPRC), InfuSystem (Nasdaq: INFU), Kips Bay Medical (Nasdaq: KIPS), Netlist (Nasdaq: NLST), NTN Buzztime (NYSE: NTN), PCTEL (Nasdaq: PCTI), PLUG Power (Nasdaq: PLUG), Quantum Fuel Systems (Nasdaq: QTWW), REX American Resources (NYSE: REX), Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG), Southcross Energy Partners (NYSE: SXE), Tranzyme (Nasdaq: TZYM), Universal Power Group (NYSE: UPG), UTi Worldwide (Nasdaq: UTIW), Winnebago Industries (NYSE: WGO) and more.

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