CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Mon Jul 16th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
Dollar Index +0.02%, 96.93
USDJPY, +0.02%, $107.9
EURUSD, -0.03%, $1.1260
GBPUSD, -0.04%, $1.2517
USDCAD, +0.03%, $1.3049
AUDUSD, -0.06%, $0.7038
NZDUSD, +0.08%, $0.6722
Foreign exchange markets had a quiet outing on Monday. The U.S. Dollar edged higher, with its potential upside limited by expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at the upcoming policy meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has fallen by nearly 60 basis points this year to 2.096% on Monday. Investors expect the Fed to reduce its key rate by 25 basis points and make another cut in September.
Sterling hovered close to six-month lows, with traders still nervous about a loss of momentum in the UK economy, the prospect of an interest rate cut and a new prime minister.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.02%, 3,014.30
Nasdaq, +0.17%, 8,258.18
Nikkei Futures, +0.21%, 21,593.0
Market eked out small gains on Monday. The major averages struggled to find direction, but the S&P 500 (+0.02%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%), and Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) did manage to set new record closes.
Facebook Inc. faced its latest Washington crisis Monday, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joining a parade of policy makers and politicians who’ve bashed its proposed cryptocurrency. In a press conference Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Facebook’s proposed digital currency, Libra, “could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers” and that it was a “national security issue.”, demonstrating the hurdles the company must overcome to ever make the token a reality.
In earnings news, Citigroup (C 71.73, -0.04, -0.1%) beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit as a tight lid on costs and strength in consumer lending helped the third-largest U.S. bank counter weakness in its trading business. However, trading revenues were weak and the bank reported tighter net interest margins. On a related note, shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM 113.90, -1.40, -1.2%), Wells Fargo (WFC 46.70, -0.66, -1.4%), and Goldman Sachs (GS 211.58, -2.36, -1.1%) each lost over 1.0% ahead of the companies’ results tomorrow morning.
Shares of General Electric Co. dropped after UBS backed away from its bullish stance, citing the stock’s significant outperformance in the face of continued power market weakness and a significant decline in interest rates. GE is scheduled to report second-quarter results on July 31, before the market opens.
Semiconductor company Broadcom (AVGO 288.34, +2.95, +1.0%) outperformed on reports that acquisition talks with Symantec (SYMC 22.84, -2.73, -10.7%) broke down. The China-sensitive industry might have also drawn some interest after Beijing reported better-than-expected data for industrial production, fixed asset investment, and retail sales for June.