US index futures trading flat to up 0.75% this morning as they try to bounce back from yesterday’s US index declines of 0.75% to 1.75%. As is often the case, the NASDAQ is the most volatile of the key US indexes, leading the bounce today just as it sold off more yesterday. European markets continue to struggle with the Dax flat, the FTSE down 0.25%, and the CAC down 1.0%. We are seeing rallies in commodity action today with US Crude Oil up nearly 2.0% and trading near $85.00/bbl while Natural Gas has popped 5.1% and Copper has jumped 1.4%.
Investors have responded positively to overnight earnings reports from some of America’s largest corporations, particularly Amazon.com ($0.94 vs street $0.59, up 5.4% premarket), and Intel ($0.41 vs street $0.22, up 6.9% premarket). Ford, on the other hand, is sliding this morning after posting disappointing results ($0.39 vs street $0.46), down 2.5% premarket). Results from Big Oil have started to roll out this morning, including ExxonMobil ($2.27 vs street $2.37), Chevron ($3.05 vs street $3.70), both of which were disappointing relative to analyst expectations.
US Core PCE Inflation, the Fed’s favorite measure, continues to decline, but slowly, (3.7% in line with expectations vs previous 3.9%). The US 10-year treasury note yield has dipped slightly toward 4.85% on the news, but overall it indicates that the Fed remains under pressure to continue its fight against inflation.
