US index futures are up 0.1%-0.3% this morning. Like the morning market bounces of the last two days, gains so far look feeble relative to the losses sustained this week, and gains have already started to fade from overnight highs. At this point it is unclear if the bulls will be able to maintain their enthusiasm through the day this time or if bears will come in and overwhelm them as they did on Wednesday and Thursday.
Overseas markets have remained under pressure to start the new month and quarter. In Europe today, the Dax is down slightly while the FTSE is down 0.6%. Asia Pacific trading saw Tokyo and Sydney plunge 2.3% and 2.0% respectively while China was closed.
Commodity action is mixed today. WTI Crude Oil and Natural gas are down 0.6% and 2.0% respectively as hurricane effects fade and investors await Monday’s OPEC+ meeting where the group may decide whether to maintain, accelerate or slow its current pace of restoring production. Meanwhile, metals are climbing led by copper up 2.3%, silver up 1.3% and platinum up 1.0%. In currency action, cryptocurrencies are climbing again with Bitcoin up 8.7% and Ethereum up 7.8%. Gold continues to struggle down 0.2% trading near $1,750/oz.
The start of the new month has brought a number of economic reports for investors to digest. Manufacturing PMI reports were generally in the mid-to-high 50s, indicating a moderate expansion with the UK beating expectations (57.1 vs street 56.3) and Germany missing slightly (58.4 vs street 58.5).
North American manufacturing PMI reports are due later this morning starting with Canada at 9:30 am EDT (previous 57.2). US ISM manufacturing PMI is due at 10:00 am with the street expecting 59.6 for the headline number, 66.0 for new orders, and 78.5 for prices paid.
In other economic news, Canadian GDP contracted slightly in July but not as much as feared (-0.1% vs street -0.2% and previous 0.7%). US personal income for August (0.2% vs street 0.3% and previous 1.1%) softened more than expected. Personal spending (0.8% vs street 0.6% and previous 0.3%) was a nice surprise, coming in better than expected. US construction spending for August is due at 10:00 am EDT today (street expecting 0.3% unchanged).
