Its another busy day for earnings reports with companies across several sectors beating street expectations. In Canada, a big bank earnings week continues with National Bank beating the street on earnings ($2.25 vs street $2.00) and freeing up $62M in capital from loan loss provisions that are no longer needed.
In the US, computer producers Dell Technologies* ($2.13 vs street $1.61) and HP Inc* ($0.93 vs street $0.89), beat expectations along with retailers Costco ($2.75 vs street $2.35) and Gap (+$0.48 vs street -$0.05). Other companies releasing positive results include Salesforce.com ($1.21 vs street $0.88) and Ulta Beauty ($4.07 vs street $1.95).
With the Memorial Day holiday approaching on Monday, making today the last trading day for May in the US, investors stateside continue to respond positively to yesterday’s upward revision to US Q1 GDP. US index futures are up 0.3%-0.4% after a mixed day on Thursday. In Europe today, the Dax is up 0.5% while the FTSE is up 0.3%. Commodity action is mixed with WTI crude oil up 0.7% and copper down 1.2%. Cryptocurrencies are taking it on the chin again today with Bitcoin falling 8.0% and Ethereum diving 10.5%.
The Chicago PMI report is due at 9:45 am EDT (street 68.0 vs previous 72.1) followed by the US University of Michigan consumer sentiment report (street 82.9) at 10:00 am EDT.