The main US equity market averages are now being called to begin the day slightly lower, with average losses of 0.2 per cent.

Yet equity futures are still off their lows for the day following remarks from US Federal Reserve Vice-President Janet Yellen in support of continuing with the current pace of quantitative easing. Speaking at the National Association of Business Economists' (NABE) Spring conference she admitted that there are costs associated with the current lax monetary policy which need to be watched.

"However, insufficiently forceful action to achieve our dual mandate also entails costs and risks," she countered. Hence, at the present time, she views, "the balance of risks as still calling for a highly accommodative monetary policy to support a stronger recovery and more-rapid growth in employment."

All of the above comes as automatic spending cuts in federal spending came into effect last Friday, with the next big political fight expected to take place on March 27th, when stopgap budget measures to keep the government running expire.

Shares of Casino operator Las Vegas Sands has announced that it probably violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Oilfield services firm Transocean has reinstated its dividend payment.

Acting as a backdrop, TrimTabs Investment Research reported today that $55.1bn poured into global equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January and February, the biggest two-month inflow on record.

Nevertheless: "Inflows into foreign stock funds have been so heavy this year that bulls should be concerned," said David Santschi, Chief Executive Officer of TrimTabs. "Big inflows from fund investors often occur near market tops," he added.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now dropping by -0.11% to the 90.58 dollar mark on NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields, meanwhile, are now higher by 1 basis point, to the 1.85% mark.

AB

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