Expectations Diminish For Fed Cut

Good morning. Premarket futures are positive as investors sift through some earnings reports. In addition, the U.S. trade deficit widened in August and initial jobless claims rose.

Notable gainers in the early going are SIMC, NABI, AMKR, UTSI, TRFX, DSCO, NGPS, DIVX, CHINA, SCHW, PALM, TMTA, COST, DVAX, AKAM, ASML, INFY, and CROX. Notable losers are TRMS, CPWR, CCMP, HGSI, HWAY, GNSS, NUAN, and PEIX.

The market will be watching today's EIA Petro report at 10:30 in order to monitor OPEC's influence on petroleum inventories. Also, we have FOMC member Frederic Mishkin scheduled to give a lecture about globalization. As you probably already know, expectations for an interest rate cut have fallen quite a bit this week as Fed funds futures now see an 18% the Fed will cut its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point at or before the March 20-21 meeting, compared with an 82% chance forecast just last week.

Let's see if the market can continue this round of "healthy" consolidation. Trade well!