From: Ike Groff Sent Tue 2/25/2014 10:54:15 AM Subject Early Tour 2.25.14 Good Morning ... European Markets off 10-60 bps (Denmark +1.7%, Ireland +1.2%, Spain +0.17%, Turkey -2.5%) NKY +1.44%, SHCOMP -2.04%, HSI -0.32%, KOSPI +0.81%, TWSE +0.18%, ASX - 0.12% EUR 1.3748 (+0.09%) JPY 102.38 (+0.12%) GBP 1.6693 (+0.22%) RUB -0.46% CNY -0.42% US 10yr 2.7391% Futures: Dow -17, Nasdaq -4, S&P -2 DXY $80.13 (-0.09%) Crude $102.10 (-0.70%) Gold $1333.30 (-0.35%) Asian markets were mixed overnight despite a firm hand-off from the US. HK managed to trade in positive territory most of the day on strength in energy and Macau plays, however the HSI rolled over late in the PM session on China weakness — Macau names were higher on talk of strong Feb GGR growth along with reports that Sands (+4.6%) and Wynn (+3.3%) are looking to develop casinos in Japan. HSBC (-2.7%) weighed on the banking space post yesterday's weaker results. In China, the SHCOMP broke down in the PM session to close on the lows. Developers continued yesterday's slide despite local reports that Merchants Bank (-1.4%), Ping An Bank (- 1.3%), CITIC Bank (-4.5%) and the Big 4 banks all said there has been no adjustments to real estate related loan policy and have not halted real estate financing operations. The Shanghai Property Index closed -2.1%, a fresh 8 month low. There were also some late reports of the arrest of an Executive Director of the BOC in a corruption probe that didn't help sentiment. Japan was higher, driven by a +4.1% gain in Softbank after the company said it is seeking a stake in Naver's (+7.5%) LINE unit (Naver later denied the story). Australia broke a 7day streak of gains, closing marginally in the red as weakness in materials/miners offset a strong gains out of QBE (+5.3%) and RHC (+6.7%) post results. Softer tone to start in Europe this morning as well with most indices in the red. Ukraine interim leader signals that a parliament vote on the formation of a ne