Wednesday – IMF Warning Erases Hope

In its Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF warned the world’s central banks to be careful of creative efforts to stimulate economic growth, which they warn could create asset bubbles and inflate corporate debt. The IMF put fear in the heart of investors who were already concerned that the support was not even enough to grow the world’s economies as is. Rumors of a German debt downgrade also impacted stocks overseas and are impacting stocks here at home today as well. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) is down 0.8% in the early going. The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) is higher by 1.3%, and we suggest readers see our recent write-up on the special opportunity in gold today: Remember Gold the Safe Haven?

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	9:33 AM	ASIA/PACIFIC	Close
EURO STOXX 50	-1.2%	NIKKEI 225	+1.2%
German DAX	-1.7%	Hang Seng	-0.5%
CAC 40	-1.4%	S&P/ASX 200	+1.1%
FTSE 100	-0.5%	Korean KOSPI	+0.1%
Greek ASE	+1.5%	BSE India SENSEX	-0.1%

The latest mortgage activity data arrives from the Mortgage Bankers Association Wednesday before the market open. Last week’s report covering the period ending April 5 showed mortgage applications increased by 4.5%. Applications tied to the purchases of homes decreased 1.0%, while the Refinance Index increased by 6.0%. Interest rates fell in the period, but this data is often not perfectly reflective of the business environment around holidays. In this case, Easter and Passover added noise.

The Federal Reserve issues its Beige Book of regional economic activity at 2:00 PM ET. Several Fed speakers are on the board for Wednesday, with public appearances by Jeremy Stein, James Bullard and Eric Rosengren scheduled.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to release its Global Financial Stability report on systemic risks today.

Commodity Markets (9:40 AM ET)

WTI Crude	-1.2%
Brent Crude	-1.1%
RBOB Gasoline	-1.3%
NYMEX Natural Gas	+0.9%
Gold Spot	+1.2%
Silver Spot	-0.1%
COMEX Copper	-3.1%
CBOT Corn	+0.3%
CBOT Wheat	-0.4%
CBOT Soybeans	+0.2%
ICE Sugar	-0.2%
ICE Cocoa	+0.6%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+0.4%
CME Live Cattle	0.0%

Look for the EIA’s regular Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 AM ET. Last week’s report covering the week ending April 5 showed crude oil inventory increased by 0.3 million barrels, and remained well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventory increased by 1.7 million barrels and are at the upper limit of the average range.

Corporate Events

In corporate news, there is an investor day event scheduled at The Gap (NYSE: GPS). Carnival (NYSE: CCL) is having its annual shareholder meeting. In Bankruptcy Court, you’ll find Pinnacle Airlines (OTC: PNCLQ.PK) and Kodak (OTC: EKDKQ.PK). Intelsat is pricing 21.7 million shares at $21 to $25 a share today. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is splitting its shares 4-for-1.

The EPS schedule highlights reports from American Express (NYSE: AXP), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK), Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ), Astoria Financial (NYSE: AF), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), Crown Holdings (NYSE: CCK), Dover (NYSE: DOV), East West Bancorp (Nasdaq: EWBC), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP), Mattel (NYSE: MAT), Noble (NYSE: NE), Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC), PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC), SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM), Textron (NYSE: TXT), The9 Ltd. (Nasdaq: NCTY), Wintrust Financial (Nasdaq: WTFC) and Zhone Technologies (Nasdaq: ZHNE).

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