Uncertainty About Near-Term Outlook May Lead To Lackluster Trading

[ADVFN]( [WorldDaily Markets Bulletin]( [Daily world financial news]( [Friday, 14 August 2020 09:20:40]( [Monitor]( [Quote]( [Charts]( [News]( [Toplists]( [Boards]( --------------------------------------------------------------- US Market Bitcoin [Bitcoin]( DAX [DAX]( Dow Jones [Dow Jones]( Nasdaq [Nasdaq]( The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open on Friday, with stocks likely to extend the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. Traders may remain reluctant to make significant moves amid recent uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets. The S&P 500 once again failed to reach a new record high during trading on Thursday, raising concerns recent upward momentum on Wall Street may have reached its limit. With earnings season largely in the rear-view mirror and talks about a new coronavirus relief bill at a stalemate, traders may be unsure about the next catalyst to drive the markets. Some negative sentiment may be generated by a report from the Commerce Department showing retail sales jumped by less than expected in July, although the weaker than expected was primarily due to a pullback in auto sales. Following the rally seen over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Thursday. The Dow and the S&P 500 spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing modestly lower. The Dow dipped 80.12 points or 0.3 percent to 27,896.72 and the S&P 500 edged down 6.92 points or 0.2 percent to 3,373.43. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back off its best levels but still closed up 30.27 points or 0.3 percent at 11,042.50. The advance by the Nasdaq was partly due to notable gains by tech giants such as Apple (AAPL) and Netflix (NFLX), although many of the big names pulled back off their highs. Meanwhile, a steep drop by Cisco Systems (CSCO) weighed on the Dow, with the networking giant plunging by 11.2 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results but providing disappointing guidance. Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, where Democrats and White House officials remain at an impasse over a coronavirus relief bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke on Wednesday, but both sides came out of the conversation blaming the other for a lack of progress. President Donald Trump, who has taken unprecedented action to circumvent Congress due to the impasse, claimed "the bill's not going to happen" during a press briefing. The ongoing stalemate over a new stimulus bill has raised concerns the economic recovery implied by recent data could stall. Before the start of trading, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined by much more than anticipated in the week ended August 8th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims tumbled to 963,000, a decrease of 228,000 from the previous week's revised level of 1.191 million. Economists had expected jobless claims to slide to 1.120 million from the 1.186 million originally reported for the previous week. With the much bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims dropped below 1 million for the first time since the week ended March 14th. "The drop in claims reflects economic reopening, but it also suggests the expiration of federal supplemental unemployment benefits may have convinced some people to stop collecting and find work," said Chris Low, Chief Economist at FHN Financial. He added, "Alternatively, people could be falling off rolls because they no longer qualify for assistance in the absence of the emergency expansion of eligibility." Energy stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, as the price of crude oil fell after the International Energy Agency lowered its 2020 oil demand forecast. Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index tumbled by 2.5 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index slumped by 2.1 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Significant weakness also emerged among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Banking, airline, tobacco and networking stocks also showed notable moves to the downside over the course of the trading session. On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.5 percent. The rally by gold stocks came as the price of precious metal moved sharply higher as the day progressed. --------------------------------------------------------------- [The End Of Capitalism As We Know It?]( Stocks are experiencing wild swings - a Maryland multimillionaire explains how a new moneymaking era is erupting in America, making some wealthy, while leaving many behind... [Click here to know more.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Economic Reports CADUSD [CADUSD]( Oil [Oil]( Gold [Gold]( EURUSD [EURUSD]( With a pullback in auto sales partly offsetting strength in other areas, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing U.S. retail sales increased by less than expected in the month of July. The Commerce Department said retail sales advanced by 1.2 percent in July after soaring by an upwardly revised 8.4 percent in June. Economists had expected retail sales to jump by 1.9 percent compared to the 7.5 percent spike originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales surged up by 1.9 percent in July after skyrocketing by 8.3 percent in June. Ex-auto sales were expected to increase by 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, Labor productivity in the U.S. soared by much more than expected in the second quarter, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday. The report said labor productivity spiked by 7.3 percent in the second quarter after dipping by a revised 0.3 percent in the first quarter. Economists had expected labor productivity to jump by 1.5 percent compared to the 0.9 percent decrease that had been reported for the previous quarter. The much bigger than expected increase in productivity, a measure of output per hour, came as hours worked plummeted by even more than output. The Labor Department also said unit labor costs skyrocketed by 12.2 percent in the second quarter after surging up by 9.8 percent in the first quarter. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its report on industrial production in the month of July at 9:15 am ET. Production is expected to jump by 3.0 percent in July after spiking by 5.4 percent in June. At 10 am ET, the University Of Michigan is due to release its preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in the month of August. The consumer sentiment index is expected to edge down to 72.0 in August from 72.5 in July. The Commerce Department is also scheduled to release its report on business inventories in the month of June at 10 am ET. Economists expect business inventories to slump by 1.2 percent. Also at 10 am ET, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan is due to speak in a moderated Q&A at the Dallas Friday Group. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Stocks in Focus Shares of Baidu (BIDU) are moving significantly lower in pre-market trading as news the Chinese search engine giant?s video streaming service iQIYI (IQ) is facing an SEC investigation has overshadowed its better than expected quarterly results. Online sports betting company DraftKings (DKNG) may also come under pressure after reporting a wider than expected second quarter loss despite revenues that exceeded analyst estimates. On the other hand, shares of Dillard?s (DDS) are seeing significant pre-market strength after the department store operator reported a much narrower than expected second quarter loss. Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) may also move to the upside after reporting third quarter results that beat estimates and providing upbeat guidance. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Europe European stocks have fallen sharply on Friday as weak Chinese data, the U.S. fiscal stimulus stalemate and new quarantine rules in the U.K. raised uncertainty about the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Eurostat said that Eurozone economic output shrank 12.1 percent sequentially in the second quarter, matching the expectation of -12.1 reported in the first estimate. While the German DAX Index has slumped by 0.9 percent, the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are down by 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. Travel-related stocks have come under selling pressure after the U.K. government added France, Malta and the Netherlands to its coronavirus quarantine list. France, the second-most popular overseas destination after Spain for Britons, warned that it would reciprocate. Oil & gas firms have also seen weakness as oil prices edged lower after the release of weak China data. Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore have also fallen. Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, has moved to the downside after it agreed to pay more than $2.2 billion to settle U.S. claims over emissions from its diesel vehicles. On the other hand, container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd has soared after delivering good results in the first half of 2020. Aareal Bank has also moved higher as it announced an agreement to sell a 30 percent minority stake in its IT subsidiary Aareon AG to financial investor Advent International. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Asia USDCAD [USDCAD]( USDEUR [USDEUR]( USDGBP [USDGBP]( USDJPY [USDJPY]( Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as investors reacted to the stalled U.S. stimulus talks and a raft of economic data from China. Chinese shares rose sharply even as retail sales and industrial production numbers for July continue to point to a weak recovery in the region. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 39.37 points, or 1.2 percent, to 3,360.10, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended down 47.66 points, or 0.2 percent, at 25,183.01. Official data showed Chinese industrial production grew 4.8 percent on a yearly basis in July, the same rate of growth as seen in June and weaker than the expected rise of 5.1 percent. Retail sales dropped 1.1 percent from last year, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent. During the January to July period, fixed asset investment decreased 1.6 percent versus a 3.1 percent decrease in January to June. Japanese shares finished slightly higher as a weaker yen helped lift exporters. The Nikkei 225 Index edged up 39.75 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,289.36, while the broader Topix closed marginally lower at 1,623.38 amid U.S. stimulus uncertainty. Market heavyweight SoftBank Group declined 1.5 percent, while Fast Retailing inched up 0.4 percent. Tech stocks rose broadly, with Advantest rising half a percent and Screen Holdings gaining 1.3 percent. Banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial fell between 0.4 percent and 1.2 percent. Australian markets rose notably after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe signaled no change in official interest rates for at least three years to ease the economic pain of the coronavirus crisis. He also said that policymakers had no concerns about the stability of the country's banking system. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 35.20 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,126.20, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended up 37.80 points, or 0.6 percent, at 6,261.70. Lender National Australia Bank gained 1.2 percent despite posting a drop in third quarter cash earnings. ANZ and Westpac rose 0.8 percent and half a percent, respectively, while Commonwealth shed 0.9 percent. Gold miners gained ground after bullion prices rose overnight amid concerns that the economic recovery is faltering. Evolution Mining surged 6.5 percent and Regis Resources advanced 2 percent. Newcrest Mining declined 0.9 percent after it delivered lower gold production across its mines in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Energy stocks ended mixed after crude oil prices declined overnight. IT stocks advanced, with Xero and Afterpay rising 5.4 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively. Seoul stocks fell sharply as weak Chinese data dented economic recovery hopes. South Korea's finance minister said today that the economy would likely bounce back to sequential growth in the third quarter, but a slump in exports remains a major concern. The benchmark Kospi tumbled 30.04 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,407.49, snapping a nine-session winning streak. That marked its sharpest fall since June 29. Export prices in South Korea were down 5.8 percent year on year in July, the Bank of Korea said - following the upwardly revised 5.7 percent drop in June (originally -6.0 percent). Import prices tumbled an annual 9.0 percent after sinking 7.4 percent in the previous month. On a monthly basis, export prices were down 0.4 percent and import prices fell 0.9 percent. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Commodities Crude oil futures are slipping $0.08 to $42.16 a barrel after falling $0.43 to $42.24 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after spiking $21.40 to $1,970.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are tumbling $14.60 to $1,955.80 an ounce. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 106.58 yen versus the 106.93 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1822 compared to yesterday?s $1.1814. --------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this news bulletin or edit your mailing list settings click [here](. Registered Office/Accounts Dept: Suite 27, Essex Technology Centre, The Gable, Fyfield Road, Ongar, CM5 0GA. Customer Support +1 888-992-3836. 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