THURSDAY 2/27/14; Durable Goods; Fed Chair Yellen

Australia is weak overnight losing -0.5% as copper continues to stumble lower. Housing, automobiles and China are the three main users of copper and all three appear challenged moving forward. Commodities are lower across the board. Struggling airliner Quantas crash lands -9% after announcing losses and job cuts. Australia banks are weak. The NIKK drops -0.3% as the dollar/yen remains flat at 102.35. Panasonic gains +2.6% due to the TSLA battery factory news. Japan retailers are slapped hard selling off from -2% to -4%. Nintendo loses -4%.

China markets are buoyant. SSEC +0.3%. HIS +1.7%. Chinese banks recover but the property stocks continue to be sold off about -2%. The dollar/yuan is 6.1284 moving sideways after the steep decline in recent days. The PBOC, however, is not done weakening the yuan. Thailand gains +1% as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra faces a corruption probe. A bitcoin ATM kiosk opens in Sinagapore despite the Mt Gox debacle. Bitcoin is holding its own as more US companies express interest in accepting bitcoin transactions.

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After the bell, Deckers Outdoor reports beautiful results but ugly guidance saying Q1 will be very weak. UGG boot sales are uglier than expected. DECK shares collapse -12% triggering a halt to trading. Gap reports better than expected EPS but misses on the top line retail sales and guides lower. GPS trades lower. CRM drops -1% despite an earnings beat. CRM gained +4% in the regular session. UAL forecasts lower revenues for Q1 telling analysts to expect results “well below expectations.” The airline sector remains a darling of long traders, carrying-over from last year, along with biotech and retail. UAL sputters -4%.

Snowden, the American whistle blower that exposed the NSA spying scandal, releases additional details on the extent of governments spying on citizens. YHOO webcam chats were intercepted by the UK spy agency GCHQ, the equivalent agency to the NSA, under a program called Optic Nerve, and the information was stored on databases. Some of the information recorded includes sexually explicit photos and video adding a tawdry twist to the ongoing spy scandals by major governments. Anyone using a webcam must realize that all your communications are recorded and archived. Big Brother is watching.