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Mind the Fed Funds Gap

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Mind the Fed Funds Gap

S&P futures are slightly lower as this week’s dovish rally to new all-time highs is digested amid further escalations between the U.S. and Iran while economic data was mixed.

The U.S. reportedly called off a retaliatory strike against Iran “at the last minute” overnight which is weighing on investor sentiment but supporting oil prices (Brent +1.60%).

Flash PMIs were mixed o/n with Asian data slightly underwhelming while European data slightly beat expectations. But none of the releases were too far from estimates so the data is not materially affecting markets this morning as investors remain focused on this week’s dovish shift in central bank policies and look ahead to the G20.

Today, there are two economic releases to watch: Flash Composite PMI (E: 50.9) and Existing Home Sales (E: 5.28M). It will be important for the former to remain soft to keep the “Fed Put” alive, but not so bad that the data stokes fears that the Fed is “too far behind the curve.”

Speaking of the Fed, Brainard and Mester speak on a panel together at 12:00 p.m. ET and Daly is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET. Given the market’s significant dovish shift in policy expectations this week, investors will be watching closely for any further clues as to when the Fed plans to cut (July?) or by how much (25 or 50 bp?).

Jobs Report Preview

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Jobs Report Preview
  • Weekly EIA Analysis and Oil Update

S&P futures are extending this week’s “squeezy” rally in early trade as dovish optimism continues to dominate the tape ahead of this morning’s ECB announcement while economic data was better than feared overnight.

German Manufacturers’ Orders rose 0.3% vs. (E) -0.1% in April while Eurozone GDP was in –line at 0.4% in Q1. Importantly, neither report was inflationary which is allowing the global rally, driven by a notable dovish shift in sentiment, alive today.

Looking into today’s session, Europe will be in focus early as the ECB Announcement is due out at 7:45 a.m. ET and Draghi’s press conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET. As long as there are no hawkish surprises out of the ECB, money flows are likely to remain “risk-on” as the U.S. session gets underway.

Domestic focus today will be on the few data points: International Trade (E: -$50.8B), Jobless Claims (E: 215K), and Productivity and Costs (E: 3.4%, -0.8%) as well as Fed speakers: Kaplan (8:40 a.m. ET) and Williams (1:00 p.m. ET).

Again, as long as there are no hawkish surprises today, the path of least resistance is still higher for stocks, although the market has gone from deeply oversold, to near term overbought in a hurry so some consolidation or a modest pullback should not come as a surprise ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report.