WHAT HAPPENED OVERNIGHT IN THE US:

·         S&P -0.2%, opened tad softer and stayed like that – after 6 straight days’ gains.

·         But April Markit PMI Manuf first read 55.4, steady month-on-month & still comfortably in expansion territory. 10yr steady at 2.70% ahead of Fed next week.

·         After-hrs: Apple +8% announced surprise 17% jump in iPhone sales y/y, helping deliver comfortable earnings beat and increased capital return programme.

·         Facebook +3% also beat, non-GAAP earnings more than doubled on revs +74% y/y thanks to strong growth in mobile advertising (now 59% of total revs).

WHAT’S UP THIS MORNING IN THE EAST:

·         Asia flat, with exception Japan -0.9% (back to flat w/w). Rest of it quiet.

·         Hong Kong unchanged; Tencent unchanged. China unchanged; Korea & Taiwan a tad lower.

·         Australia +0.2%, kept afloat by miners; BHP +0.2% indicates flat London open.

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWS:

·         Expect AllShare unchanged. From SA close yesterday, gold +$3 ($1286), plat +$4 ($1404), ZAR +0.3% (10.58), S&P -0.1%.

·         MTN first glance looks light: Q1 subs 210m vs sbge 211m (SA 24.9m vs sbge 26m, Nigeria 57.2m vs sbge 58.2m), SA ARPU R100.5 vs sbge R108.8, Nigeria ARPU $7.20 vs sbge $7.32, Ghana $4.70 vs sbge $4.86.

·         Also due today; CLS H1 (guided 5mths sales +8.4%), AGL Q1 prod (sbge iron 11.3mt, copper 179kt). Caterpillar due at 1.30pm.

TODAYS KEY DATA POINTS:

·         7am+: Europe earnings (Heineken, AstraZen, Novartis)

·         8am+: SA earnings (CLS, AGL Q1 prod)

·         10am: Germany April IFO (bus 110.4, cur 115.6, exp 105.8)

·         11.30am: SA March PPI (+7.8% y/y)

·         12pm+: Pulte Homes (20c), DR Horton (34c), Gen Motors (4c), Altria (57c), etc

·         1.30pm: Caterpillar (123c)

·         2.30pm: US March Durables (+2% m/m), initial jobless (315k), cont claims (2.74m)

·         US after-hrs: Microsoft (63c), Amazon (23c)