Equity and commodity trading is mixed this morning as investors digest a number of earnings and economic reports which have been released overnight.
Several companies have beaten street expectations including Procter & Gamble ($1.37 vs street $1.32), Schlumberger ($0.63 vs street $0.60), railroad CSX ($0.48 vs street $0.43) and paint producer PPG ($1.82 vs street $1.45), indicating strength across a number of industry groups.
Flash PMI Reports, the first peek at April economic conditions have been mixed. For the most part, Flash Manufacturing PMI reports from Asia and Europe have come in below 50 and below expectations, while Flash Service PMI Reports have generally come in above 50 and above expectations. US Flash Manufacturing PMI (street 49.0) and Flash Service PMI (street 51.5) are due at 9:45 am EDT.
Retail sales numbers released today have been mixed as well. Canada (-0.2% vs street -0.6%) was not as bad as feared, while the UK (-0.9% vs street -0.5) was worse than feared.
US index futures are pretty much flat this morning with Dow Futures up marginally and NASDAQ futures falling 0.3%. Asia Pacific trading saw the Hang Seng drop 1.6%, while in Europe, the Dax is down 0.3% and the FTSE is up 0.2%. WTI Crude Oil is up 0.6%, Platinum is up 2.0%, but Copper is down 0.6%. Gold is down 1.1% and has slipped back under $2,000/oz this morning.