mary louise parker
flickr / Greg Hernandez
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
  • Markets in Asia soared in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei rose 2.7 percent and the Hang Seng advanced 2 percent. European markets are in the green with the exception of Italy, which is currently down 0.1 percent. In the United States, futures point to a positive open.

  • The Japanese government officially nominated Haruhiko Kuroda to take over the top spot at the Bank of Japan in April. Kuroda, who serves as the head of the Asian Development Bank, is considered to be strongly dovish toward monetary policy, and he was widely tipped as the frontrunner for the nomination. Nomura economist Richard Koo, for one, likes the pick.

  • Japanese industrial production expanded 1 percent in January, missing estimates of 1.4 percent growth. The data reflect a slowing expansion from the previous month, when production grew 2.4 percent. Year over year, output is still down 5.1 percent. Housing starts also missed expectations, rising 5 percent year over year in January versus the 8.8 percent expansion predicted by economists.

  • According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, the Reserve Bank of Australia believes that the Aussie dollar is overvalued on the order of 4 to 15 percent, per its own models. However, the documents also clarified that the Aussie dollar doesn't post a near-term risk of deflation, nor is it "contractionary" for the economy, which may temper fears of an intervention to devalue the currency.


  • J.C. Penney reported quarterly results well below the Street's expectations after the closing bell. The company posted a loss of $1.95 per share versus the $0.24 per-share loss predicted by analysts. Revenues came in at $3.88 billion, well below the $4.08 billion expected. The stock tanked in after-hours trading. 

  • Due out at 8:30 AM ET is the second estimate for fourth quarter U.S. GDP growth. Economists expect the second estimate to show that the economy grew 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, in contrast with the initial print, which indicated a 0.1 percent contraction. Recent improvements in backward-looking economic data are the main reason for optimism toward today's release. 

  • Also at 8:30 AM are weekly jobless claims data. Economists expect claims to decrease slightly to 360,000 from 362,000 the week before. Initial claims are also expected to moderate slightly to 3.143 million from 3.148 million. Last week's data contained estimated figures from four states due to the holiday-shortened week.

  • At 10 AM, Chicago PMI for February is released. Economists expect the index to fall to 54.0 from last month's 55.6 reading, indicating a slowing pace of expansion in the Midwest region.

  • At 11 AM, the Kansas City Fed releases its monthly survey of manufacturing activity. That index is expected to increase slightly to -1 from -2 last month, indicating improving – yet still negative – conditions in the region.