CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Thu Oct 17th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, -0.30%, 97.99
USDJPY, -0.17%, $108.68
EURUSD, +0.39%, $1.1076
GBPUSD, +0.26%, $1.2821
USDCAD, +0.03%, $1.3203
AUDUSD, +0.05%, $0.6757
NZDUSD, -0.10%, $0.6288
U.S. Retail Sales declined 0.3% month-over-month in September (consensus +0.3%) following an upwardly revised 0.6% increase (from +0.4%) in August. Excluding autos, retail sales declined 0.1% (consensus +0.2%) after increasing an upwardly revised 0.2% (from 0.0%) in August. Upward revisions for August cushioned some of the headline blow, yet the key takeaway from the report is that it highlights some relatively conservative consumer spending activity in September that will feed into the slowdown narrative building for the U.S. economy.
U.S. Treasuries finished the session on a higher note, leaving yields slightly lower. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield both declined two basis points each to 1.59% and 1.75%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.3% to 98.02.
In trade, China threatened unspecified countermeasures against the U.S. after the House of Representatives approved legislation to support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The Senate has yet to vote on the measures, but the situation could complicate the completion of the first phase of a trade deal with the U.S.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, -0.20%, 2,989.69
Nasdaq, -0.30%, 8,124.18
Nikkei Futures, +1.20%, 22,467.5
Wall Street finished little changed on Wednesday, as investors weighed negative macro news against another set of mostly positive earnings results. The positive reaction to today’s batch of earnings reports was limited to shares of companies that reported, namely Bank of America (BAC 30.18, +0.45, +1.5%), United Airlines (UAL 89.70, +1.82, +2.1%), and J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT 115.65, +4.05, +3.6%), as opposed to Tuesday’s earnings-driven rally. Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed near their flat lines.
In other potential deals, General Motors (GM 36.65, +0.39, +1.1%) and the UAW reached a tentative agreement that could end the monthlong strike at GM. McKesson (MCK 144.84, +6.67, +4.8%), Cardinal Health (CAH 49.07, +1.17, +2.4%) and AmerisourceBergen (ABC 86.05, +2.85, +3.4%) began talks to settle opioid litigation for $18 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Netflix soared more than 10% in extended trading Wednesday after the company released its earnings report for the third quarter. The company reported mixed results, with an earnings beat and a miss on domestic subscriber adds, while revenue slightly missed analysts’ expectations. Earnings per share: $1.47 vs. $1.04 expected. Revenue: $5.24 billion vs. $5.25 billion expected. Domestic paid subscriber additions: 517,000 vs. 802,000 expected. International paid subscriber additions: 6.26 million vs. 6.05 million expected.