This morning, the S&P 500 Index e-mini futures (ES-Z2) were trading higher by 2.00 points to $1408.75 per contract. There was a lot of news released overnight, however, the action in the U.S. Dollar Index is still the real driving force behind any major market move. Basically, the major stock indexes will trade inverse to the U.S. Dollar Index. The decline in the U.S. Dollar Index has helped to inflate stocks and commodities today before the opening bell.
Overnight Activity
Last night, the leading Asian stock indexes were mixed. The one major stock index that did standout last night was the Shanghai Index (China) finishing higher by 1.70%. This rally higher in the Shanghai Index tells us that if the U.S. markets are strong today the Chinese ADR's could catch a strong bid higher. Some leading equities that could be in play today include the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (FXI), ProShares UltraSh FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXP), China Mobile Ltd. (CHL), Baidu.com, Inc. (BIDU) and SINA Corp (SINA).