Please note that the Morning Minutes will not be issued next week due to our summer break. They will return on Tuesday August 9.
The last trading day of July and the Friday before a long weekend in Canada finds equity markets continuing their rebound. US index futures are flat to up 0.7% to 1.0% this morning boosted by a positive reaction to some earnings from the technology sector. Investors may note, however, that most of the overnight gains came in the first hour of aftermarket trading last night and this morning so far, index futures have been flat to down slightly.
There have been several strong moves premarket following earnings reports from US companies overnight. Amazon.com is up 10.9% after beating the street on sales ($121.2B vs street $119.0B). Apple is up 2.5% premarket after earnings per share declined less than expected ($1.20 vs street $1.16). On the other hand, Intel ($0.29 vs street $0.70, down 11.5% premarket) and Roku (-$0.82 vs street -$0.69, down 21.6% premarket) are getting hammered in early morning trading after reporting disappointing results. Big Oil results this morning have been received positively with both Chevron ($5.82 vs street $5.10) and Exxon Mobil ($4.14 vs street $3.74) trading up about 2.5% premarket after beating the street.
European indices are up this morning with the Dax climbing 1.2% and the FTSE gaining 0.5%. Eurozone GDP came in better than expected (0.7% vs street 0.2%), but inflation was also higher than expected (8.9% vs street 8.6%).
Economic news from North America today has been mixed. US inflation continues to run hot. Core PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred measure (4.8% vs street 4.7%), and the Q2 employment cost index (1.3% vs street 1.2%) both came in higher than expected and Core PCE inflation hit its highest level in over forty years. US personal income (0.6% vs street 0.5%) and personal spending (1.1% vs street 0.9%) both exceeded street estimates. Canadian GDP for May was not as bad as feared (0.0% vs street -0.2% and previous 0.3%). US Chicago PMI, a potential preview of Monday’s national numbers, is due at 9:45 am EDT (street 55.0).
Commodities continue to strengthen into the weekend with WTI crude oil up 1.6%, copper up 0.8% and natural gas up 2.5%. The US Dollar is down 0.2% to 0.4% against gold and the major paper currencies. Cryptocurrencies, however, appear to have missed the “risk-on” memo with Bitcoin falling 1.0% and Ethereum sliding 3.6%.
