Written by Gary
US stock index futures have risen this morning (SPY +0.2%) as investors await a speech from the Fed. Stocks shrug off deadlock in trade talks.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 is up 0.29% while London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.14% and Germany’s DAX is up 0.12%. |
Looking at the last three columns (below), the first one (Actual), is what was reported this morning. The second column (Forecast) is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Enbridge to buy Spectra Energy for $3.3 billionEnbridge Inc, Canada’s largest pipeline operator, said on Friday it would buy its U.S. master limited partnership Spectra Energy Partners for a sweetened deal of $3.3 billion. |
| UniCredit, SocGen decline to comment on tie-up reportUniCredit and Societe Generale declined to comment on a report that Italy’s biggest bank was working with a senior Rothschild banker to advise it on a possible merger with the French lender. |
| Stock futures higher, Powell speech in focusU.S. stock index futures rose on Friday, as investors awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the direction of monetary policy. |
| Dollar dips, global stocks inch up ahead of Powell speechThe dollar dipped on Friday, set for its biggest weekly decline since March as markets braced for a speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for hints on the direction of monetary policy, while a gauge of global stocks inched higher. |
| SEC to review decision rejecting bitcoin ETFsThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday it will review a decision by its staff to block nine bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds from coming to market. |
| Shelved Aramco IPO hits at heart of Saudi prince’s reformsSaudi Arabia’s decision to shelve what was billed as the biggest share sale ever is a major blow to the credibility of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman but there are other ways to finance reforms to strengthen the economy, bankers and investors say. |
| Four Toyota group firms to form JV for self-driving tech: NikkeiFour Toyota Motor Corp group firms will form a joint venture to combine their self-driving technologies to better compete with automotive component giants such as Bosch Group [ROBG.UL], the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday. |
| China’s Huawei slams Australia 5G mobile network ban as ‘politically motivated’Australia has banned Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] from supplying equipment for a 5G mobile network citing national security risks, a move the Chinese telecoms gear maker criticized as being “politically motivated”. |
| Siemens denies report it may cut 20,000 jobsGerman engineering giant Siemens said a report by monthly Manager Magazin that it could cut 20,000 jobs as part of its Vision 2020+ strategy was “completely unfounded”. |
| Trader: Forget Jackson Hole, Trump Drives The DollarAuthored by David Finnerty, Bloomberg macro commentator President Trump was looking at the Fed when lamenting the dollar’s recent strength. He’d have been better off looking in the mirror. When trying to figure out whether the dollar rally has ended or just temporarily stalled, then Trump’s actions are likely to offer more insight than Jay Powell’s Jackson Hole jaw-jaw. The Fed Chairman is due to discuss economic and monetary policy Friday in Wyoming. But given the central bank’s consistent signaling on rate hikes this year, it’s hard to see him throwing a curveball that could impact the dollar near-term. Investors are already expecting a rate hike in September, with a strong probability of another by year-end. Hopes for guidance on next year’s plans are likely to be disappointed. There’s little upside to discussing them with all the uncertainty around trade. If there is to be any new insight at all it could be in the realm of Powell’s thoughts on the ominous flattening of the U.S. yield curve. The dollar’s near-term direction, therefore, may be more sensitive to Trump’s actions. A solution to a U.S-China trade war doesn’t appear imminent; Trump this week confirmed he’s in no rush because he feels he’s winning right now. Fears of escalation should continue to prove generally positive for the dollar. Nor is Trump in any mood to compromise with Turkey on the fate of the American pastor. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has already flagged the prospect of more sanctions if he’s not released quickly. That would feed fears of emerging currency contagion, also benefiting the dollar. But offsetting these forces is the fallout from Cohen’s plea bargain. It’s not certain how this will play out, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the dollar experienced a kneejerk reaction lower should the presidency be challenged in the short-term.< … |
| “Come On Jeff, You Can Do It”: Trump Urges Sessions To Look Into The Corruption “On The Other Side”The to-ing and fro-ing continues between President Trump and his attorney general. In a double-tweet storm response this morning to AG Sessions’ strong response to Trump’s barrage of abuse yesterday, the President pressed his AG to “look into all of the corruption on the ‘other’ side,” jabbing at him by saying, “Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!”
Continuing his war of words over Twitter, Trump blasted:
|
| Yuan Surges After PBOC Resumes Use Of “Countercyclical Factor”Step aside Powell: what may be the most important news for the dollar today came not from Jackson Hole but from Beijing, where the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly announced that it would resume use of the “counter-cyclical factor” in the CNY midpoint fixing mechanism, which it suspended in January, sending the Yuan sharply lower at the time. As Bloomberg reports, banks that contribute to the fixing plan to resume re-applying the counter-cyclical factor in their calculations from Monday, “while a source from a yuan-fixing bank said the institution has already resumed using the counter-cyclical factor, without saying if the bank received a call from the PBOC.” What is the counter-cyclical factor? As a reminder, back on May 26, 2017, shortly after Moody’s downgrade of China, Beijing “moved the goalposts” in its bid to reduce yuan volatility and depreciation, to punish currency manipulators (read Yuan shorts) and limit capital outflows (the currency had weakened for three straight years, triggering draconian capital controls and the surge of bitcoin) when the PBOC introduced a new “counter-cyclical factor” to reduce exchange-rate volatility, mitigate “pro-cyclicality” of market sentiment and reduce “herd behavior” in the FX market As we explained at the time, under the new reference rate formula unveiled by the PBOC, institutions that provide quotes for the fixing would add an “intangible” counter-cyclical factor to their existing models, which takes into account the previous day … |
| Here Comes Powell But Draghi And Kuroda Strangely Absent From Jackson HoleWhile political turmoil may have preoccupied the market for most of this week, the market’s focus for today and into Saturday will turn back to monetary policy with the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium due to kick off today and continue into the weekend. As DB’s Jim Reid reminds us, the topic of this year’s conference is the rather vague “Changing Market Structure and Implications for Monetary Policy” and what it means for competition, consumers and workers if a a few superstar firms such as Amazon.com control ever-larger market shares in many industries. Amazon chief economist Patrick Bajari has been invited, perhaps to give some color on why “superstar” firms account for 60% of profit margin growth in the past 20 years.
Fed Chair Powell is due to speak this afternoon at 10.00am EDT (link to full program here) on the even more vague “Monetary Policy in a Changing Economy”. Powell has been a regular attendee since joining the Fed’s board as a governor in 2012, but this will be his first appearance since becoming the Fed’s leader in February. While Powell isn’t likely to say anything about it, his public appearance wil … |
| H&M May Never Catch UpThe world’s second-largest fashion chain by sales has fallen behind as consumers have moved online. Despite a big decline, the stock hasn’t priced in the new reality. |
| Videogames’ Epic Shootout Coming This FallThis fall the industry will launch a series of major first-person shooters, while “Fortnite” is poised to begin a new season. That may prove to be a bit too much action for some game publishers. |
| Smucker Needs to Fix Peanut Butter and JellyFood company Smucker has made smart moves to adjust its portfolio, but without boosting its core brands the stock will keep struggling. |
| Economic Report: Durable-goods orders fall in July due to fewer Boeing contracts, but businesses boost investment in show of strengthA big drop in new contracts for passenger jets caused orders for U.S. durable goods to fall in July for the third time in four months. But most manufacturers aside from Boeing reported good results and business investment strengthened. Orders for long-lasting goods fell 1.7% in July. |
| Metals Stocks: Gold gains, heads for over 1% weekly gain, as Fed commentary featuresGold prices posted modest gains Friday, on their way to a weekly advance, though pinned below the key $1,200 level ahead of a much-awaited update on the U.S. economy and interest-rate policy from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. |
| The Wall Street Journal: Papa John’s mandates diversity trainingPapa John’s mandates diversity training for its staff as founder John Schnatter pushes to regain control of the pizza company that executives say was destabilized by his divisive behavior. |
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated:
