Markets are calm and in a growing trend, the main economic events on the stock exchanges
Market reviews
S&P 500 Hits All-Time High on Soft Landing Hopes: Wall Street and traders betting the Fed can deliver a soft landing sparked a rally in riskier corners of the market, sending stocks to all-time highs.
Big quarterly options expiration today. Could be volatile.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) had to end without doing anything on rates. Markets will have to wait for BOJ Governor Ueda's press conference at 15:30 (06:30 GMT) for more on the tightening outlook, including whether the October meeting will encourage a rate hike. Markets have priced in only 3 basis points of tightening for October, although that is almost six weeks away, leaving plenty of time for change. Most analysts are looking for a 25 basis point hike in December, although the market has only priced in 7 basis points.
China’s central bank surprised markets earlier by not cutting benchmark interest rates, and was then forced to intervene in the foreign exchange market to stop the yuan from rising too quickly above 16-month highs. Optimists argued that the delay was due to the need to include rate cuts in a larger stimulus package, but such a package has been talked about since the start of the pandemic and none has materialized. Others suspect that the PBOC is more concerned about falling bond yields and bank profit margins and will need to ease reserve requirements first.
For two years, the inverted curve supposedly signaled a looming recession, even as U.S. growth was above trend. Now, economic orthodoxy says, it’s the curve’s deinversion that means a recession is inevitable, even as consumers continue to spend, weekly jobless claims hit their lowest since May, and Atlanta’s fairly reliable GDPNow puts third-quarter growth at 2.9%. It’s impossible to have everything, and perhaps the curve isn’t infallible.
The total daily volume of transactions on the crypto market has grown by more than 20% amid the Fed's decision to cut rates. The volume of the global cryptocurrency market has grown to $2.14 trillion.
Johnson & Johnson raised its dividend by 4.2%. The company is one of the dividend aristocrats and has raised it for 62 years in a row.
Xiaomi has surpassed Apple in global smartphone sales for the first time in three years? The analytical agency Counterpoint has published a note on the balance of power at the top of the ranking of global smartphone manufacturers, where a significant event took place - for the first time since 2021, Xiaomi managed to surpass Apple and take second place in the charts, losing only to Samsung,
China is placing spies inside Microsoft and other major US companies. Which is a serious threat to national security, DailyMail reports. A new law in China, which came into effect on July 1, requires foreign companies with more than 300 employees in the country to have an “employee representative” on their board of directors. This representative is likely linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and could act as a spy and a tool to pressure companies.
The SEC asked the court to delay its investigation into the Coinbase case by four months, until February 2025. The decision has sparked speculation about the SEC's possible political motives, as the deadline falls after the election.
BlackRock argues that Bitcoin is neither a “risky” nor a “risk-free” asset in the traditional sense. According to the BlackRock document, the company’s clients view Bitcoin as insurance against a possible debt crisis in the United States.
The EU has warned Apple that it must open up its iPhone and iPad operating systems to competing technologies. The company must redesign iOS so that it is fully functional with other companies' technologies and solutions. Otherwise, it will face a fine.
The German Finance Ministry lost 100 million euros due to the wrong strategy of selling Commerzbank shares on the market - FT. The shares were split and not sold as a block. UniCredit got the shares cheaper and may yet deprive Germany of control over the country's second-largest bank.
Boeing to furlough tens of thousands of workers after no progress in resolving strike - Reuters The furloughs suggest Ortberg is preparing Boeing for a long strike that is unlikely to be easily resolved.
The German media holding that owns Bild, Welt and Politico will split into two companies. The company's largest shareholder, the American investment fund KKR, together with the Canadian pension fund (CPP Investments), will gain control of the more profitable business related to online advertising.
Axel Springer SE will only retain media assets: Bild, Business Insider, Politico, Welt, Idealo, Bonial, Morning Brew, Dyn, Emarketer, Polish Onet and Fakt.
Amazon has launched a video generator - but only for advertising. Like its competitor Google, Amazon has launched a video generator based on artificial intelligence, but for now it is only intended for advertisers and is somewhat limited in its capabilities.
Apple's iPhone 16 is outselling the iPhone 15, T-Mobile CEO says.
FedEx (FDX) shares fall 11% in premarket trading after earnings report. The company gave a weak outlook.
Nike (NKE) shares are up 8% in premarket trading as the company replaces CEO John Donahoe with company veteran Elliott Hill.
Shares of developer Lennar (LEN) are down 2% in premarket trading after its earnings report. The company beat estimates and was bullish. But its gross margins are down slightly.
AI-powered hiring platform Mercor backed by Dorsey and Peter Thiel to raise $30 million.
SpaceX 'strongly denies' FAA claims it violated launch requirements.
Brazil's Supreme Court rules X must not skirt ban, risking daily fines.
FactSet beats earnings estimates on strong demand for its analytics tools.
Amazon adds chatbot for its salespeople, boosting automation.
The US Federal Trade Commission says social media users have no control over data used by AI.
US cryptocurrency stocks jump after sharp Fed rate cut.
Intel says it has no plans to sell majority stake in Mobileye.
Rivals of UnitedHealth's tech unit say new customers affected by hack remain.
Samsung sues Indian union over strike as conflict escalates.
Economic news in the US is generally good;:
- Initial jobless claims fell to 219K (previous 231K).
- Claims are the lowest in 4 months, a good sign for the labor market.
- Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for September rose to +1.7 (previous -7).
- U.S. existing home sales fell to the lowest since October due to persistent affordability issues (few sales due to expensive new mortgages).
- U.S. current account deficit widened sharply in the second quarter, reaching its highest in more than two years amid a surge in goods imports.
- The Bank of England kept its key interest rate at 5%
- The Bank of Japan expectedly left its key interest rate at 0.25%
- S&P Global predicted that India will become the world's third-largest economy by 2031
- This will happen on condition of continuation of reforms that are crucial for improving business operations and logistics, stimulating private sector investment and reducing dependence on state capital, the company's report says.
Key events that could impact markets on Friday:
- UK Retail Sales August, Canadian Retail Sales, German PPI, EU Consumer Sentiment.
- Speech by Catherine Mann, External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England.
- Conversation between ECB President Christine Lagarde and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
- Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker speaks.
- Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem delivers a speech.
International Reviews
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw its troops from Palestinian territories within 12 months.
The European Union may tighten sanctions targeting financial institutions supporting military flows to Russia and supplies of goods made by Western subsidiaries in Southeast Asia - Reuters. "The sanctions imposed by the EU from 2022 are not a 'silver ball' but they are intended to make the Russian military machine slower, more expensive and less effective," said EU sanctions spokesman David O'Sullivan.
The European Commission has launched a special procedure to deduct a €200 million fine imposed by the European Court of Justice on Hungary for long-term violations of the right to asylum in the country - Euronews. The fine is to be paid as a lump sum to the European Commission.
Europe is in a strong position to maintain stable energy supplies this winter, despite the end of Russian gas transit through Ukraine - Bloomberg. Although countries such as Austria and Slovakia still rely on fuel from Russia, the end of a transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine on Dec. 31 will not shake the buoyant European gas market, Michael Lewis, chief executive of German energy company Uniper, said in an interview Wednesday.
The Venezuelan Attorney General's Office has requested an arrest warrant for Argentine President Javier Miley. The reason is the US confiscation of the Venezuelan Emtrasur aircraft, which was in Buenos Aires.
The pagers for Hezbollah were manufactured by a Hungarian front company created by Israeli intelligence, - NYT. This was Israel's way of hiding the fact that the devices were actually created by Israeli intelligence officers. The pagers contained batteries loaded with explosives.
Romania calls on NATO to respond 'robustly' to Russian airspace violations. NATO countries do not have the authority to decide on their own whether to shoot down targets; NATO command must approve this.