As battles rage in Libya, oil futures firmed up by .30, on fears of additional supply disruption. At the same time, inflation is running hot in Asia, as evidenced by Korea’s February PPI data, rolling in at a smoking hot 6.6%. As a result, they raised rates to 3% tonight. At the moment, Australia is down 1.5%, Japan -1.4%, Korea -1.1%, and Hong Kong 0.6%.
Moreover, Chinese exports unexpectedly cooled in February, growing by just 2.4%, while imports surged ahead by more than 19%. And, to make matters worse, Japanese GDP shrank by 1.3% last quarter, as that nation is embedded in the most fucktarded deflationary vortex since the Romans let the Barbarian hordes permeate their city walls.
U.S. futures are trading more than 10 points below fair value on the S&P.
