Before markets open on Thursday, here is what you need to know.
Greece paid the IMF. The troubled country met its 460 million euro ($495.82 million) debt obligation to the International Monetary Fund. According to HSBC, the real "crunch point" will occur May 12, when 767 million euro payment to the IMF is due. Greece's three-year yield is lower by 58 basis points at 20.41%.
The Bank of England took no action at Thursday's meeting. The central bank held its Official Bank Rate at 0.50% and its asset-purchase program at 375 billion pounds. Both were expected. Great Britain's pound is off 0.3% at 1.4820.
The Bank of Korea kept policy on hold. South Korea's central bank held its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 1.75%, as expected. Following the announcement, the BOK lowered its 2015 growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.4% and its 2015 inflation outlook to 0.9% from 1.9%. South Korea's won is down 0.2% at 1,092.60 per dollar.
German data disappointed. Industrial production posted a surprise drop, slipping 0.3% year-over-year. The country's trade surplus edged up to 19.7 billion euros from 19.6 billion but missed the 20.3 billion euro estimate as imports rose 1.8% YoY and exports climbed 1.5% YoY. Germany's 10-year yield is off 2 basis points at a record-low 0.15%.
UK Oil and Gas Investments made a huge oil discovery. The exploration company says it discovered approximately 100 billion barrels of oil in the South of England. The company acknowledged, however, that only 3% to 15% of that was likely to be recovered. The company's stock was up as much 325% on the news.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon released his annual later to shareholders. Dimon said recent action in fixed-income and foreign-exchange markets was a "warning shot across the bow" and that the bond "flash crash" that occurred October 15 was something that happened "once in every 3 billion years or so."
Alcoa kicked off earnings season with mixed results. The aluminum maker announced earnings of $0.28 per share, topping the $0.26 per share that was expected. Revenues were light at $5.82 billion, missing analyst expectations of $5.94 billion. The company upped its global demand forecast, noting: "Given final 2014 worldwide aluminum demand, Alcoa has upwardly revised its view of global aluminum demand growth in 2015 to 9%, an increase from the prior forecast of 7%. This results in global consumption of 54 million metric tons, or 1.2 million metric tons higher than previously forecast."
PetroChina is the world's largest oil company. PetroChina's market cap reached $352.8 billion, surpassing Exxon Mobile Corp. ($352.6 billion) for the first time in five years. The Chinese energy giant has rallied 61% over the past year but has vastly underperformed the Shanghai Composite, which sports a gain of almost 90% over that time.
Global stock markets are mixed. France's CAC (+0.8%) leads European markets higher after Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+2%) led the way in Asian trade. China's Shanghai Composite (-0.8%) was a notable laggard.
US economic data is light. Unemployment claims are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, and wholesale inventories will cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration will release the latest natural gas storage data at 10:30 a.m. ET. Treasury reopens $13 billion 30-year bonds at 1 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is on session lows, down 3 basis points at 1.88%.
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