From: Ike Groff Subject: Early Tour 4.7.14 Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 09:54:59 +0000 Inline-Images: image001.jpg; image002.png ,Description: Description: Good Morning ... European Markets off 25-100 bps ... NKY -1.69%, SHCOMP (closed), HSI -0.59%, KOSPI +0.08%. TWSE -0.14%, ASX -0.17% EUR 1.3717 (+0.09%) JPY 103.25 (+0.05%) RUB -0.73% AUD -0.02% CAD -0.12% US 10yr 2.728% Futures: Dow -38, Nasdaq -23, S&P -6 DXY $80.37 (-Sc) Crude $100.82 (-32c) Gold $1299.10 (-$4.40) Copper -0.03% Silver -0.56% Nat Gas +1.28% Asian markets were under pressure overnight following the US move on Friday. Volumes were much lighter than average with China and Thailand closed. Japan underperformed with the Nikkei breaking below 15k as the Yen strengthened to 103 intra-day. Softbank (-4.6%) continued its slide after Friday's Forbes article saying that the company is looking for deals in Europe. The BOJ meeting concludes tomorrow and no material change to policy is expected — likely BOJ will double ETF purchases. Hong Kong struggled on continued weakness in tech (Tencent 4.5%) and Macau names (Sands 4.9%, Galaxy -5.6%). The World Bank lowered China's 2014 GDP growth to 7.6% from 7.7% which also dampened sentiment. South Korea outperformed as it spiked in the final minutes on a foreign MOC program which took the Kospi into positive territory. Phanna names are in focus in India after Sun Pharmaceutical (+1.1% currently) announced an all-stock deal to buy out Ranbaxy (-4.5% currently) worth $4 billion. General elections also began in India today (the world's biggest), with polls showing that Modi's party, the BJP is the favorite to win. The election will take 5weeks with the final result coming on May 16 (eleven things to know about the world's biggest election CNN). M&A the focus in Europe this morning. Holcim & Lafarge have agreed to terms in a merger of equals that will create the world's biggest cement maker with more than $40B in sales which has the whole sector outp