Wednesday – Worries About Europe Weigh

By Ed Gaynor:

The U.S. market is finally taking Europe’s ineptness seriously. The iShares Core S&P 500 (NYSE: IVV) is lower by 0.7% to start the day.

Even more housing data finds the wire on Wednesday, leading the day. In the premarket, we’ll get the latest mortgage activity data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last week’s report covering the period ending March 15 showed mortgage applications decreased by 7.1%. Mortgage rates generally increased in the period.

Pending Home Sales data is due at 10:00 AM EDT Wednesday. Economists are looking for a 0.7% decrease in the February reading, matching against the 4.5% increase in activity seen in January. Investors will want to eye the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) for perspective of how the market is receiving the news.

A slew of Federal Reserve representatives are scheduled to address the public Wednesday. They are all set to speak around noon, with addresses from Chicago’s Charles Evans, Boston’s Eric Rosengren, Cleveland’s Sandra Pianalto and Minneapolis’ Narayana Kocherlakota.

Look for the EIA’s regular Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 AM ET. Last week’s report covering the week ending March 15 showed crude oil inventory decreased by 1.3 million barrels, but remained well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline decreased by 1.5 million barrels and remained in the middle of the average range.

There’s a BRICs summit in South Africa today. Indian markets are closed today.

In corporate news, Pinnacle Foods is expected to make a 29 million share initial public offering at a price of $18 to $20 per share. Pinnacle is the maker of the Birds Eye frozen vegetables brand. The deal is backed by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX). AMR Corporation's (OTC: AAMRQ.PK) subsidiary American Airlines seeks bankruptcy court approval for its proposed merger with U.S. Airways Group (NYSE: LCC).

Look for analyst and investor meetings at Zillow (NYSE: Z), AGL Resources (NYSE: GAS) and Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN). The Bank of America Merrill Lynch New York Auto Summit brings presenters Ford (NYSE: F), Hertz (NYSE: HTZ), Delphi Automotive (Nasdaq: DLPH), Dana Holding (NYSE: DAN) and Tenneco (NYSE: TEN). Look for EPS reports from PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH), Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX), Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), Adcare Health Systems (NYSE: ADK), Exceed (NYSE: EDS), ASA Gold & Precious Metals (NYSE: ASA), Asia Entertainment & Resources (Nasdaq: AERL), Astea Int’l (Nasdaq: ATEA), Books-a-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM), China Automotive (Nasdaq: CAAS), China Marine Food (Nasdaq: CMFO), Chinaedu (Nasdaq: CEDU), Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CYCC), Exa (NYSE: EXA), ExOne (Nasdaq: XONE), Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE), H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL), Intellicheck Mobilisa (NYSE: IDN), Kingold Jewelry (Nasdaq: KGJI), LGL Group (NYSE: LGL), Natuzzi (NYSE: NTZ), Newtek Business Services (Nasdaq: NEWT), P&F Industries (Nasdaq: PFIN), PFSweb (Nasdaq: PFSW), Saratoga Resources (Nasdaq: SARA), Steelcase (NYSE: SCS), SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX), Texas Industries (NYSE: TXI), UniFirst (NYSE: UNF), U.S. Geothermal (NYSE: HTM), Verastem (Nasdaq: VSTM), Verenium (Nasdaq: VRNM), Verint Systems (Nasdaq: VRNT) and others.

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