July 21st, 2015

Daily Market Commentary

 

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • The Redbook Index, which measures same-store sales growth in U.S. general merchandising stores, was reportedly up 0.2% and up 1.2%.
  • Foreign Direct Investment in China, year-to-date, was up 8% in year-over-year terms.

Commodities:

  • Gold advanced for the first time in seven days as a technical indicator showed the plunge to a five-year low may have been too excessive. Other precious metals gained.
  • Oil guru Gary Ross, who predicted last year’s rout, said $100-a-barrel crude is likely to return within five years as faltering supply fails to meet demand.
  • Rising seaborne iron ore supplies over the next two quarters will probably overwhelm weak demand from mills in China, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said that a global glut was entering its second year.

Canada:

  • Canadian natural gas producers are losing more ground to U.S. competitors as an acute shortage of pipeline space forces them to cap output.
  • DH Corp., a 140-year-old company best known for printing checks, is wooing investors with its transformation into a deal-hungry financial-technology provider.
  • North American railroads are three-for-three in beating analysts’ profit estimates even as cargo volumes shrink. Now Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is in the spotlight.
  • BlackBerry Ltd. cut an undisclosed number of jobs as Chief Executive Officer John Chen keeps tightening spending more than a year and half into his turnaround plan.

United States:

  • US stock futures are relatively stable ahead of the open, following a calm Monday.
  • Shares in PayPal are rising by about 3% pre-market and there’s a great deal of trading going on as the company begins its second day as an independent company. The online payment service was spun off from eBay on Monday and its shares immediately shot up by about 5%. PayPay is now worth nearly $50 billion. (CNN)
  • Summer earnings are still rolling in. Among the companies expected to report this morning are Harley-Davidson, Travelers, and Verizon. After the close, we’ll hear from Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoPro, and Chipotle. (CNN)

International:

  • European stocks halted the longest rally in more than a year as Novartis AG led drug makers lower after results missed analysts’ estimates.
  • European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Greece’s European creditors have agreed to provide debt relief so long as the country’s government can deliver on the terms of its third bailout package.
  • Even though Greece has dominated investor sentiment for months, estimates for European profit growth in 2015 have managed to rise — to 12 percent now from 10 percent in April, according to analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg.

*All information is taken from Bloomberg, unless otherwise noted.