Daily News Report

Markets in a Flash

• Asian equity markets were mixed last night, no real direction shone through. The Hang Seng was up +0.64%, while the Nikkei 225 was down -0.07%.
• European equity markets are up today. The Stoxx Europe 50 was up +1.2% at 0730ET. The FTSE 100 is up +0.83% at the same time.
• Commodities are mainly up this morning. Brazilian export problems push sugar to a 4 month high. Oil is trading slightly above $79 while Gold is struggling below $1200 as the risk appetite rises.
• The GBP has continued its strong run against the USD and has broken out to a 3 month high this morning.
• The EUR/USD has broken out above the 1.3000 level. This is as investors sell the greenback for increased risk while the Euro benefits from Fridays stress test results.
• The EUR is seeing good strength this morning as new 2 month highs have been made in its pairs with the JPY and the GBP.
• US equity futures are higher this morning indicating positive equity markets at the opening bell.

News Focus

Huge losses for BP and planned asset sale

Bob Dudley will take the role as BP’s new CEO from the start of October. This was confirmed after Mr Hayward stepped down from the position and will be taking on a role with BP’s Russian operations. This comes as BP announced that it made a post tax loss of $17Bn in the second quarter, this record loss was put down to the $32.2Bn put aside as a provision for the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It has been reported that BP plans to sell $30Bn of assets to fund its clean up operations. Bp’s hare price is marginally up this morning on the London Stock Exchange at 418p.

Just Released

0745ET – ICSC-Goldman Store Sales

Store Sales - W/W change
Previous 1.4 % Actual 0.6 %
Store Sales - Y/Y
Previous 4.2 % Actual 3.8 %
The increase in store sales shown by these figures shows that consumer spending has risen slightly this week. The growth is slower than last weeks and shows that growth is slowing. Data showing that growth in the US is slowing is in line with other economic data of recent times.

Coming up Today

0855ET – Redbook

This weekly indicator is similar to the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales as it shows the health of retail sales but is less consistent. The figure reported backs up the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales data, and if similar should make for a stronger conclusion as to what is happening with consumer spending. If consumer spending increases it is bullish for the economy and the markets.

0900ET – S&P/Case-Shiller HPI

The house price index released each month gives an indexed figure representative of house prices across the US. The figure released lags 2 months, so today’s figure is for house prices in May. An increase in house prices reflects a recovery in the housing market and in the general economy. If house prices rise the economy must be recovering, this will prove bullish for equities and the US Dollar.

1000ET – Consumer Confidence

Previous 52.9
Consensus 51.0
Consensus Range 46.0 to 54.0
The conference board’s survey asks 5000 consumers across the US about present and future economic conditions. After a fall in the figure from May to June today’s figure for July is expected to continue the falling trend. Any figure that comes in above consensus will suggest stronger economic growth and should prove bullish in the markets.