“In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. China ‘s PMI data painted a mixed picture of the country’s manufacturing sector — China (FXI) official gauge, which focuses on larger state-owned enterprises, edging up to 50.3 in March from 50.2 in February. The HSBC index, which gives more weight to smaller private companies, slipped to 48 from 48.5. HSBC says that its reading confirms the weakness of domestic demand and that it implies 1Q GDP growth of below the annual goal of 7.5%.
2. FBI Probes High-Frequency Trading Firms for Abuse of Information — Bloomberg, Federal agents are investigating whether high-frequency trading firms break U.S. laws by acting on nonpublic information to gain an edge over competitors. the agency is looking at whether traders manipulate the market by placing a set of orders and then very quickly canceling them. In a 60-minutes interview, Michael Lewis accused high-speed trading firms of rigging the markets in a new book called “Flash Boys.”
3. Virtu Financial, High-Frequency Trading Company delayed marketing its IPO — company has delayed its IPOs as increasing controversy over high-frequency trading (HFT). Virtu’s (VIRT) postponement comes after Michael Lewis accused HFT firms of rigging the market in a new book called “Flash Boys,”. The FBI has disclosed that it’s also investigating the industry as well as the SEC. Late last Friday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) also joined the fray.
4. China unveiled mini-stimulus package — China announced a program which includes selling 150B yuan ($24.6B) in bonds for railway construction, improved housing for the low paid, and tax relief for struggling small companies. The size of the package won’t come close to the massive 2008 stimulus that boosted growth but also bad loans.
5. Stock Market Since 1900 — the chart below shows the S&P Composite Index, on a logarithmic scale, since 1900. The log scale helps illustrate long-term index patterns, namely the distinct periods of range bound and trend bound markets.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2014 at 10:51 am and is filed under Weekly Summary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.