OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS

December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ15 -0.51%) are down -0.68% and European stocks are down -1.60%, led by weakness in mining companies as the price of copper (ZNZ15 +0.21%) slid to a 1-month low. Chinese growth concerns weighed on stocks as well after China Aug industrial profits fell by the most in 4 years. Weakness in European automakers was another negative for European stocks, led by a -6% decline in shares of Volkswagen AG, as the company remains embroiled in the emissions-cheating scandal. Asian stocks settled mixed: Japan -1.32%, China +0.27%, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea closed for holiday, Australia +1.42%, Singapore -1.44%, India -0.95%. China’s Shanghai Composite erased losses of as much as 1.6% and closed higher as a rally in technology companies overshadowed data that showed industrial companies’ profits fell by the most since the data began in 2011.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.07%) is unch. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.18% after ECB Executive Board member Lautenschlaeger said it’s “too early” to talk about expanding QE. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.43% as eh slide in stocks boosts the safe-haven demand for the yen.

Dec T-note prices (ZNZ15 +0.21%) are up +8.5 ticks.

ECB Executive Board member Lautenschlaeger said there are “some recovery signs” in the interbank money market and “it is too early to talk about concrete measures about broadening QE.”

China Aug industrial profits were down -8.8% y/y, the largest decline since the data series began in 2011. Jan through Aug industrial profits are down -1.9% y/y to 3.77 trillion yuan.

U.S. STOCK PREVIEW

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) Aug personal spending (expected +0.3%), Aug personal income (expected 0.4%), Aug PCE deflator (expected unch m/m and +0.3% y/y), Aug PCE core deflator (expected +0.1% m/m and +1.2% y/y), (2) Aug pending home sales (expected +0.5% m/m and +7.8% y/y), (3) Sep Dallas Fed manufacturing activity (expected +6.8 to -9.0), (4) New York Fed President William Dudley speaks on monetary policy in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, (5) Chicago Fed President Charles Evans delivers a speech titled “A Perspective on Monetary Policy” at the Marquette University Business Leaders Forum in Milwaukee, WI, (6) San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks on the economic outlook to the UCLA Anderson School of Management.