Tag Archives: U.S. economic data

Investors Look To U.S. On Europe Concerns

Here’s today’s ‘Just A Minute’ bringing you a 60 second summary of what’s happening in the financial markets:

Main Trading Event Of The Day: U.S. Pending Home Sales @ 14.00 GMT

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING TODAY

Investors Look To U.S. On Europe Concerns

As the prospect of tougher sanctions against Russia impacts on confidence in Europe, investors will be looking to the United States and China to underpin the global economy. Wednesday’s U.S. GDP reading and jobs data on Friday will help markets assess the strength of the economy’s rebound and the speed of the Federal Reserve’s return to more conventional monetary policy. In Europe, the downing of a Malaysia Airlines airliner over the Ukraine has left countries such as Germany with little choice but to change their long-passive stance and impose tougher sanctions on Moscow. European Union ambassadors are expected to meet early this week to finalise sanctions that could include closing EU capital markets to state-owned Russian banks, placing an embargo on arms sales and restricting supply of energy technology. Globally, such sanctions would hurt Europe hardest, where Russia does most trade, compounding economic problems for Russia and throughout the region. The International Monetary Fund has already flagged the ‘chilling effect’ on investment in Russia of sanctions as it pared back its forecast for global economic growth last week. Confidence amongst businesses in Germany, which accounts for more than one quarter of all exports across the European Union, has dipped further since the plane crash. The crisis comes at a delicate moment for the 18 countries using the euro, where a fledgling recovery is losing pace. Investors will get a snapshot of the bloc’s inflation rate, which has sunk well below the European Central Bank’s target on Thursday.

Dollar Index Holds Close To Six Month Peak

The U.S. dollar hovered near six month highs against a basket of major currencies on Monday, holding onto solid gains made last week as investors turned bearish on the euro. This was ahead of key U.S. economic data later this week and a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting ending on Wednesday which market-watchers believe is likely to culminate in the same dovish message from Chair Janet Yellen.

The Commerce Department is expected to report on Wednesday that the economy grew at a 3.2 percent annual pace in the second quarter, after it shrank 2.9 percent in the previous quarter. On Friday, the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls are expected to show a rise of 231,000 in July after they increased 288,000 in June. The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 6.1 percent. Yellen said this month that the Fed could raise rates sooner than initially expected if labour markets continued to improve. Still, most economists expect the U.S. central bank to start raising interest rates in the second half of 2015. The dollar index was steady at 81.045, after it peaked at 81.084 on Friday, a high not seen since early February. So far this month, it has rallied around 1.6 percent, on track for its best monthly gain since January. Against its Japanese counterpart, the dollar was steady at 101.81 yen.

WTI Crude Declines In Advance Of U.S. Data

West Texas Intermediate crude fell for the fourth time in five days amid speculation that forthcoming economic data may signal a slowdown in growth in the U.S. Brent also dropped in London. Futures declined as much as 0.6 percent in New York. A preliminary index of U.S. service industries is forecast at 59.8 for July, the lowest level in three months. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to review monetary policy at a two-day meeting starting tomorrow. WTI for September delivery fell as much as 59 cents to $101.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $101.59. The contract gained 2 cents to $102.09 on July 25. The volume of all futures traded was about 18 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 3.6 percent in July, the most in eight months. Brent for September settlement lost as much as 60 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $107.79 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $6.29 to WTI. The spread closed at $6.30 on July 25, the widest since July 7.

That sums up today’s highlights! We hope you have a profitable day on the markets.

U.S. Building Permits: Set To Rise?

Here’s today’s ‘Just A Minute’ bringing you a 60 second summary of what’s happening in the financial markets:

Main Trading Event Of The Day: USD Building Permits @ 12.30 GMT

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING TODAY

U.S. Building Permits: Set To Rise?

With Building Permits data expected later today, investors are anticipating numbers that will show American housing and industrial activity increased. European stock-index futures rose, after equities fell yesterday to a three-week low, while Asian shares climbed. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index also dropped 1 percent yesterday as Ukraine accused Russia of deploying troops inside its territory. Reports are expected to show housing starts rebounded to a 970,000 annualised pace in March, the first increase in four months, from a 907,000 rate in the previous month, according economists at Bloomberg. Separate data may show industrial production increased in March. Also today, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will address the Economic Club of New York after the close of European markets while the U.S. central bank will release its economic survey known as the Beige Book.

USD Building Permits Today @ 12.30 GMT

Gold Extends Decline On Prospects For Further Fed Tapering

Gold retreated once again, extending the biggest drop in three weeks, on prospects for further cuts to the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program as the U.S economy shows signs of recovery. Gold traded at $1,300.31 slumping 1.9 percent yesterday, the most since March 24. The precious metal ended a 12-year bull run in 2013 on expectations that the Fed would cut stimulus as the largest economy recovered. Bullion has rebounded 8.2 percent this year as unrest in Ukraine spurred haven demand. In an escalation of the conflict, Ukrainian troops retook state buildings from armed pro-Russia activists in the eastern Donetsk region yesterday as Russia warned of a civil war.

Twitter Shares Take Flight After Key Hire, Acquisition

Shares of Twitter closed up nearly 12 percent Tuesday after the company said it was buying Gnip, a start-up that it has worked closely with. The company also announced a key hire, Daniel Graf from Google, who ran Google Maps. Graf will be vice president of consumer products. Buying Gnip shows that Twitter is investing more heavily in enterprise services. Gnip is one of the few companies that has access to Twitter’s “Firehose,” meaning all the data generated by millions of tweets, every day, in real time. The company then mines the data for trends or information that might be useful to other companies. The buyout means the two companies will have a much closer relationship and signals where the company sees its strategy going forward.

That sums up today’s highlights! We hope you have a profitable day on the markets.

U.S. Data Reveals Interesting Picture Of Homeownership

A recently released report provides in-depth information regarding US household net worth. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, US household net worth grew by $3 trln and now sits at over $80 trln in total. This information purportedly paints a rosy picture for citizens in the US, but what does the data mean? Once a little digging is done, the facts are perhaps less flattering with the jury out on what all the data means. Banc De Binary Founder, Oren Laurent, shares his thoughts on the matter in this very informative article. Read more…

Just A Minute!

Here’s today’s ‘Just A Minute’ bringing you a 60 second summary of what’s happening in the markets today:

Main Trading Events Of The Day: U.S. Core CPI m/m & Unemployment Claims @ 13.30 GMT

Earnings Reports: Groupon Inc. Earnings per share forecast: 2 cents. Release: Close of U.S. markets today. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Earnings per share forecast: $1.65. Release: Before U.S. markets open today.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING TODAY

Fed To Change Rate Guidance As Unemployment Falls

Federal Reserve policy makers backed away from their year-old commitment to consider raising interest rates when unemployment falls below 6.5 percent. With joblessness falling faster than expected even as other labour-market indicators show weakness, policy makers agreed it would soon be appropriate to revise their guidance about how long the era of record-low interest rates will remain, according to minutes of their January meeting. Several policy makers also said that in the absence of an appreciable change in the economic outlook, there should be a clear presumption in favour of continuing to trim the Fed’s bond purchases by $10 billion at each meeting. U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy setting meeting revealed little consensus about when short-term rates would begin to rise. A larger-than-expected drop in home construction in January also weighed on sentiment.

Facebook to Buy Messaging App WhatsApp for $19 Billion

Facebook Inc, the world’s largest social network has agreed to purchase mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp Inc. for up to $19 billion in cash and stock, making it the biggest Internet acquisition in more than a decade. WhatsApp has more than 450 million members, with 1 million users being added daily. WhatsApp, which would be the company’s biggest acquisition, competes with apps from Twitter Inc., Kik Interactive Inc. and Snapchat Inc., the photo-message startup that rebuffed a $3 billion Facebook bid last year. WhatsApp is also believed to have many users in emerging markets such as China and India.

Industry insiders were said to have been staggered by news of the acquisition of WhatsApp, seeing it as a sign of sheer “desperation” and arguing that the social networking giant has overpaid for the mobile-messaging start-up. They believe that Facebook is so worried that they are bleeding users that they are trying to get their user count up by buying companies that have users which is reminiscent of some of the strategies of the dotcom era.

Facebook investors were also initially unhappy with the astounding valuation the social media giant is paying for the California-based company, which basically values each WhatsApp user at about $42 a customer. After first tumbling more than 5%, Facebook’s shares recovered slightly and were off about 3% in after-hours trading.

Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp is the company’s largest acquisition yet, dwarfing the $1 billion it paid for Instagram and highlighting its ambition to get a piece of the fast-growing mobile messaging market.

Gold Weakens As Dollar Recovers After Fed Minutes

Gold slipped on Thursday as the dollar firmed after minutes from a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting indicated support for continued tapering of its stimulus. The tapering, which highlights a recovery in the U.S. economy, will diminish gold’s investment appeal as a hedge against inflation. The metal sank to a six-month low on Dec. 31 on prospects for a global economic recovery. Gold hit reached $1,314.50 before slipping to $1,309.85, down $1.40. It crossed the psychological level of $1,300 this month, but gains have been capped at a 3-1/2 month high of $1,332.10 hit on Tuesday. According to analysts, this should correct a little because the rise has been too sharp.

That sums up Thursday’s highlights! Keep in touch with us via your favourite social media channels for up-to-the-minute news and information to help you with your trading. We hope you have a profitable day on the markets.

Treasuries Rebound from Bottom as Surprise Index Drops

The past two months saw treasuries recover from the the world’s worst performing rank for bonds as U.S. economic data figures missed experts anticipated marks by the most since July.

Debt due in 10 years and more increased 4.1 percent in the period, No. 34 of 144 indexes compiled by the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies and Bloomberg. Securities lost the most of all in 2013 recording a huge 90.2 percent drop. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index dropped to negative 3.8 yesterday as economic data came in at levels below analysts’ expectations. While following the Fed’s meeting policy makers talked of “underlying strength” in the American economy, two Federal Reserve officials so far this week spoke of prolonged stimulus to spur the economy.

Benchmark 10-year yields were little changed at 2.60 percent as of 6:51 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. The price of the 2.5 percent note due in August 2023 was 99 1/8.
The yield has fallen from 2.99 percent on 5th September, which was the highest close this year. It has remained below its average of 3.51 percent over the past decade.

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