*Heavy snow and strong winds are crippling the Midwest and are now heading to the east. But there is also dangerous weather bearing down on northeast Australia in the form of Cyclone Yasi, which threatening to bring extreme rainfall back to the flooded Queensland area of the country.*Stocks in Asian trade were generally strong. The Nikkei and Hang Seng were among the best with a gains of almost 1.8% and Australia rose about 0.9%. Shanghai was closed as the Lunar New Year celebrations have begun. European indexes are mixed, with the Footsie currently higher by about a half percent, but the Dax is off a fraction. US stock futures are lower by a slight fraction as I write.
*US mortgage applications rose 11.3% in the week ended January 28, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, there were gains for both the purchase and refi components.
*The Challenger Group reports that in January there were 38,519 job cut announcements. That is up 6.5k from a month ago, but down 46% from a year ago.
*ADP released their estimate for private sector non-farm payrolls in January, +187k, it was expected to be +140k.
*The Treasury is expected to announce at 8:00am CST the details for next week’s refunding auctions of 3 Year and 10 Year Notes and 30 Year Bonds
*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CST. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to increase 2.5 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to rise 2.0 million and the estimate for Distillates is -1.0 million.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 2/15/21 and 11/15/27; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.
*Fed Governor Duke is scheduled to speak at 4:30pm CST; no topic has been announced.
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