30-7-2019 – Saudis to get US arms, not nukes

Asia

Asian equities are in the green this morning, led by Shenzhen’s 0.92% rise. The Hang Seng lags at 0.33%, as protesters blocked train services in Hong Kong early Tuesday. And China’s manufacturing data tomorrow is expected to show a 3rd month of contraction in a row.

The Bank of Japan this morning decided to maintain its negative interest rate at -0.1%, with Gov. Kuroda saying further easing would occur if inflation remains below 2%.

Japan in June saw a tenth percent drop in unemployment to 2.3% but also a drop in job applications and a 4.1% contraction in industrial production (YoY) – double the month before. Consumer inflation for June is expected to drop a tenth to 1%.

Europe

European stocks took the hint from Asia yesterday, closing mostly down. The FTSE was the odd-man-out, adding 1.82%, as the British Pound continued to plummet during the Asian session. It is currently resting atop the 1.2150 mark – a 2-year low – as Brexit takes a hard-line approach.

Adding to the FTSE’s roar was the exchange’s planned purchase of Refinitiv, a global financial data and infrastructure provider, in a $27bn. A deal that would put the firm on par with Bloomberg.

On the economic indicators front, the UK saw improvements in consumer credit and mortgage approvals in June, while retail sales in Spain rose 2.4% – better than the expected 1.7%, but lower than last month’s 2.6%.

In France, Q2 GDP is now expected to drop to 0.2% growth – down from the previous projection of 0.3%. And consumer confidence in Germany is down again – 9.7 for August.

US

US indexes were mixed yesterday, the DOW adding a tenth of a percent, the Nasdaq losing 0.44%.

With the Senate failing to revoke the President’s veto of a bill preventing him from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, the United States House Oversight Committee revealed documents yesterday of an attempted sale by Westinghouse to sell 40 nuclear reactors to that kingdom, a deal brokered by a Trump associate.

Meanwhile, as China-US trade talks move to Shanghai, the US Dept. of Trade awaits on license requests to sell components to Huawei await Chinese purchases of US agricultural goods.

Commodities

Gold trading jumped $12 per troy ounce as the Asian session got underway overnight, while oil added 30 cents per barrel in anticipation of tomorrow’s US Fed rate cut.

Corporate

Ahead of its quarterly earnings report this afternoon, Apple shares added 0.93% yesterday, as did Procter & Gamble 1.11% – also reporting today. After topping earnings expectations Monday, Pfizer shares continue trending down ahead of its merger with Mylan.

Beyond Meat shares tumbled 12% yesterday after it announced another stock offering, a mere 3-months after its successful IPO in May, since which shares have increased by over 860%! JPMorgan Chase is paying out an 80-cent dividend today for the 4th quarter in a row, as shares lose 0.32% in trading yesterday.

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