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Market Currents (Thursday, July 17, 2008)
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  • 4:42 PM Will oil follow natural gas down? Comment!
  • 4:30 PM Merrill Lynch (MER): Q2 EPS of -$4.95 misses by $3.04. Net losses on CDOs of $3.5B and hedging losses of $2.9B. Estimated book value per share falls to $21.43 from $25.93 in Q1. Shares -4.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:26 PM Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Q2 EPS of -$0.60 misses by $0.08. Revenue of $1.35B vs. $1.45B. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:22 PM Microsoft (MSFT): Q2 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $15.84B vs. $15.65B. Shares -5.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:19 PM The European Commission expanded its antitrust complaints against Intel (INTC): Says it offered discounts to a PC distributor to favor INTC products; paid a PC maker to delay marketing an AMD (AMD) line; and paid the maker to use INTC chips. Comment!
  • 4:17 PM Capital One (COF): Q2 EPS of $1.24 misses by $0.07. Revenue fell 4.6% to $3.35B vs. $4.37B. Shares +11.3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:13 PM IBM (IBM): Q2 EPS of $1.98 beats by $0.16. Revenue of $26.8B vs. $25.92B. Shares -0.1%. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:06 PM Google (GOOG): Q2 EPS of $4.63 misses by $0.11. Revenue of $3.9B (+43.2%) in-line. Paid clicks up 19% Y/Y vs. 20% in Q1. Shares -9.5% to $483. [PR] Comment!
  • 4:02 PM Strength into the close: Dow +1.69% to 11,428. S&P +1.1% to 1,259. Nasdaq +1.2% to 2,312. Comment!
  • 3:51 PM The NY Fed's $75B TSLF auction of top quality collateral garnered just $51.75B in bids. Comment!
  • 3:47 PM Microsoft (MSFT) reports Q2 earnings after the close. Consensus: EPS $0.47, revenue $15.65bn. Bloomberg says profit growth may be stunted this year by a resurgence of software piracy in China, where 8 out of 10 pieces of software in use are copied illegally. Microsoft commented extensively on piracy in its last earnings call. Comment!
  • 3:46 PM The sky-high dividend yields of Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE) [15.1% and 14.6%], vs. an average dividend yield of 2.22% for S&P 500 companies, suggest more reductions are forthcoming. Comment!
  • 3:45 PM Google (GOOG) reports Q2 earnings after the close. Consensus: EPS $4.74, revenue $3.87bn. Comment!
  • 3:40 PM Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) says it has a $1.5B pipeline of potential acquisitions. "I would characterize it as probably the most robust pipeline since I've become CEO," said David Speer. Two of the potential deals are valued at more than $200M. Comment!
  • 3:25 PM The Dow has taken the lead going into the last half-hour: +1.48%. Nasdaq +1.32%. S&P +0.94%. Comment!
  • 3:20 PM Ironically, when Merrill (MER) bought its 30% stake in Bloomberg for $30M in 1985, it did so to help prop up an ailing company. Now it's payback time. Comment!
  • 3:10 PM Morningstar says JPMorgan (JPM +10.8%) shares ($39.80) are worth $60. "The firm is operating from a position of strength," and may use its balance sheet - one of the strongest in the industry - to buy another beaten-down firm for a song. Comment!
  • 2:52 PM Today's 7.8% drop in natural gas (UNG) shouldn't be a shock, given normal cyclical price weakness and demand destruction at these price levels. With the potential for more bearish data in coming weeks, energy bulls may want to stay on the sidelines. Comment!
  • 2:40 PM Car rental stocks like drop in crude: HTZ +22%. DTG +21.5%. CAR +12.3%. So do airlines: AMR +16.7%. LCC +18.75%. DAL +14.2%. NWA +11.7%. Comment!
  • 2:29 PM Bush to open halfway-house in Iran - a remarkable about face from a heretofore hawkish administration. Comment!
  • 2:18 PM Obama: Bullish for munis? Comment!
  • 2:07 PM Don't hold your oxygen waiting for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles: 2023 is the earliest they'll compete with conventional cars - assuming $145B of private industry investment and another $55B from the government. Comment!
  • 2:04 PM The economy through the lens of advertising: "Classified advertising has been most impacted directly from the economic slowdown... down about 21%, reflecting declines of 30% in real estate, about 29% in employment. Auto was a little more than 11% lower." -- Gannet (GCI), from its call transcript. Comment!
  • 2:01 PM U.S. markets trade near their highs. Dow +1.6%. S&P +1.16%. Nasdaq +1.27%. Crude -2.85% to $130.80. Gold +0.37% to $966.30. Comment!
  • 1:59 PM UBS on JP Morgan's (JPM) Q2 beat: "Hard to get too excited about a 6% ROE, but the beat of lowered expectations should be a short-term positive given the recent fall in the stock." Comment!
  • 1:55 PM Color on ValueClick (VCLK -20%) weakness: "Against a deteriorating macro environment, online display advertising is being materially impacted - much more so than performance-based search advertising." - Citigroup's Mark Mahaney Comment!
  • 1:50 PM Sector ETF weakness: Natural Gas– UNG -7.6%. Coal– KOL -6.7%. Steel– SLX -4.9%. Agriculture– DBA -3.7%. Internet– HHH -3.3%. Commodities– GSG -3%. Oil– USO -3.2%. Comment!
  • 1:49 PM Sector ETF strength: Regional Banks– KRE +9%. Commercial Banks– KBE +8.8%. Homebuilders– XHB +7.8%. Financials– XLF +5.4%. Broker/Dealers– IAI +4.6%. Retailers– XRT +3.8%. Semis– SMH +3%. Cons. Discretionary– XLY +2.7%. Comment!
  • 1:43 PM Stocks surging as crude dives to $130. Comment!
  • 1:36 PM Barrick Gold (ABX -1%) sweetens its offer for Cadence Energy by 13% to C$410M; Cadence concedes. Comment!
  • 1:34 PM WSJ (NWS) lays off 50 staffers. The twist: It's not due to widespread newspaper pain, but because of new investments in a "significantly larger newshole." "There is good reason for optimism at Dow Jones amidst the pessimism prevailing in our industry." Comment!
  • 1:25 PM There are no atheists in foxholes, and no libertarians in financial crises, Harvard's Jeff Frankel says - reminding us that the maxim may not be an argument against atheism, but an argument against foxholes. Comment!
  • 1:09 PM Three-year-old women's blog community BlogHer gets a $5M cash injection from NBC Universal (GE). BlogHer gets to promote its content across NBC's web, and NBC's iVillage will help BlogHer sell ads. Comment!
  • 12:57 PM A rare bull on CIBC (CM +3.3%): UBS's Peter Rozenberg says the writedown threat is overblown and shares are cheap. Comment!
  • 12:45 PM UBS (UBS) will cease to provide offshore banking for Americans; advisors forbidden to travel to the States to meet with clients. Comment!
  • 12:33 PM Tough times at Pfizer (PFE): No more coming to work in a helicopter. Comment!
  • 12:21 PM iPhone 3G's achilles heel? For enterprise users, battery changes on-the-go are a must-have feature; Apple’s (AAPL) fixed battery may limit the iPhone's inroads into the corporate market. Comment!
  • 12:07 PM Unhappy with your returns? Just storm the exchange. Comment!
  • 11:55 AM Teva (TEVA -2%) to buy Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL +16.3%) for $7-7.5B? Comment!
  • 11:44 AM Auction-rate probe hits Wachovia: Securities regulators turned up at Wachovia's (WB +3.5%) HQ demanding documents and asking questions about its sales and marketing practices. Comment!
  • 11:41 AM Owens Corning (OC) +5.5% on murmurs of a PPG Industries (PPG) takeover bid. Comment!
  • 11:33 AM LookSmart (LOOK -21.5%) also warned this morning: "Our second quarter revenue results were impacted by an unanticipated softening in search advertising demand." Bad news for GOOG, YHOO? Comment!
  • 11:22 AM ValueClick (VCLK) -19%. "Due to increasing macroeconomic uncertainty, we no longer anticipate the seasonal strength in ad spending we typically see in the second half of the year." Comment!
  • 11:09 AM More on the strong housing starts: Most of the 9.1% gain was due to a change in NYC building codes, net of which starts would have dropped 4%. Comment!
  • 10:57 AM Despite stronger-than-expected housing starts, single-family starts - the key number - hit their lowest level since 1991. Comment!
  • 10:45 AM Why Big-3 automaker bankruptcy is not an option. Comment!
  • 10:35 AM While search is still the king of online advertising, display ads - dominated by Yahoo (YHOO) - are Microsoft's (MSFT) real end-game. Don't expect it to take its eyes off the ball. Comment!
  • 10:22 AM Dow laggards: KO -3.9%. AA -2.4%. WMT -1.9%. Comment!
  • 10:21 AM Dow leaders: JPM +10.8%. BAC +10.9%. GM +7.9%. C +6.3%. UTX +5.5%. AXP +3%. AIG +3%. Comment!
  • 10:20 AM Philly Fed Business Outlook -16.3 vs. -15 consensus, up from -17.1 last month. Manufacturing has now been negative for eight consecutive months. Comment!
  • 10:17 AM Sector ETF weakness: Internet– HHH -2.8%. Utilities– XLU -1.4%. Retailers– RTH -1.4%. Steel– SLX -1.1%. Agriculture– DBA -1.2%. Comment!
  • 10:08 AM Failed lender IndyMac (IMB) is among 21 banks the FBI is investigating for mortgage fraud. Countrywide (BAC) is another. Most haven't been named - yet. Comment!
  • 10:02 AM Sector ETF strength: Regional Banks- KRE +8.1% RKH +6%. Commercial Banks- KBE +7.3%. Homebuilders- XHB +5.1%. Broker/Dealers- IAI +4.1%. Financials- XLF +3.9% IYF +3.8%. Dividends- DOL +2%. Comment!
  • 9:59 AM Markets looked poised to take off, but have fallen back to their opening levels. Dow +0.52%. S&P +0.46%. Nasdaq +0.4%. Crude +0.65% to $135.47. Gold +0.3% to $965.60. Comment!
  • 9:53 AM Yahoo to shareholders: Icahn-Microsoft (MSFT) will destroy shareholder value; don't "confuse a modestly improved offer with a good offer"; c'mon guys - vote for us! Comment!
  • 9:42 AM A new study claims tobacco makers (MO, LO) are tweaking their menthol levels to hook youngsters with milder brands - and keep them addicted with juiced-up levels. Comment!
  • 9:31 AM Wells Fargo (WFC) gave shorts a run for their money yesterday (+30%). Analysts worry the gains aren't sustainable. Comment!
  • 9:20 AM Genuine Parts Co (GPC): Q2 EPS of $0.81 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.87B in-line. Shares +3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:14 AM With a quarter-hour to the opening bell, futures indicate a stronger open. Dow +0.76%. S&P +0.79%. Nasdaq +0.89%. Crude -0.16% to $134.40. Gold -0.34% to $959.50. Comment!
  • 9:13 AM Merrill Lynch (MER), the first company to show an interest in Ground Zero, will not move its headquarters to one of the planned new office towers. Developer Larry Silverstein may have a hard time raising money. Comment!
  • 9:08 AM Sherwin-Williams (SHW): Q2 EPS of $1.52 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $2.23B in-line. Sees Q3 EPS $1.20-$1.45, better than consensus of $1.20, and full-year EPS of $3.60-4.10 vs. consensus of $3.79. Shares +2.2%. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:05 AM Safeway (SWY): Q2 EPS of $0.53 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $10.12B vs. consensus of $10.23B. Sees full-year EPS of $2.25-2.35 vs. consensus of $2.28. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:04 AM Nucor (NUE): Q2 EPS of $1.94 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $7.09B vs. consensus of $6.37B. Sees Q3 EPS of $1.80-1.85, short of consensus of $1.95 - due to dilution of Q2 share sale. Shares -5.2%. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:01 AM Nexen (NXY): Q2 FFO C$1.78 beats by $0.48. Revenue of C$2.11B vs. consensus of $1.93B. Shares -2%. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:00 AM Virginia Commerce (VCBI): Q2 EPS of $0.18 beats by $0.02. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:00 AM Orbital Sciences (ORB): Q2 EPS of $0.35 beats by $0.12. Revenue of $301M vs. consensus of $294M. Shares +5.3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:00 AM Capitol Bancorp (CBC): Q2 EPS of $0.04 beats by $0.01. [PR] Comment!
  • 9:00 AM CVB Financial (CVBF): Q2 EPS of $0.21 beats by $0.02. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:59 AM Champion Enterprises (CHB): Q2 EPS of $0.04 misses by $0.07. Expects revenue of $289M vs. consensus of $325M. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:59 AM Great Southern Bancorp (GSBC): Q2 EPS of $0.47 beats by $0.01. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:59 AM A.O. Smith (AOS): Q2 EPS of $1.06 beats by $0.28. Revenue of $622M vs. consensus of $606M. Sees full-year EPS of $2.70-2.85 vs. consensus of $2.89. Expects lower Q3 EPS due to high materials costs. Shares -1.7%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:58 AM Knoll (KNL): Q2 EPS of $0.49 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $292M vs. consensus of $279M. Sees Q3 EPS of $0.38-0.41 vs. consensus of $0.37. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:57 AM Media General (MEG): Preliminary Q2 EPS of -$0.06 vs. consensus of $0.06. Revenue of $205M vs. consensus of $216M. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:57 AM Watsco (WSO): Q2 EPS of $0.94 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $510M vs. consensus of $499M. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:56 AM Reliance Steel (RS): Q2 EPS of $2.12 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.1B in-line. Sees Q3 EPS of $1.80-1.90 vs. consensus of $1.94. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:53 AM June Housing Starts 1.07M vs. 0.96M consensus. Permits 1.09M vs 0.96M consensus. Comment!
  • 8:49 AM Initial Claims 366K vs. 380K consensus. Four-week moving average falls by 4.5K to 381K. Comment!
  • 8:43 AM PPG Industries (PPG): Q2 EPS of $1.62 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $4.5B vs. consensus of $4.17B. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:42 AM Sonoco Products (SON): Q2 EPS of $0.57 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $1.09B in-line. Sees Q3 EPS of $0.63-$0.65, below consenesus of $0.66. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:41 AM Amphenol (APH): Q2 EPS of $0.61 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $847M vs. consensus of $816M. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:40 AM Cypress Semi (CY): Q2 EPS of $0.28 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $592M vs. consensus of $540M. Shares +3.9%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:39 AM McMoRan Exploration (MMR): Q2 EPS of $1.24 beats by $0.23. Revenue of $375.5M vs. consensus $307M. Shares +1.3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:38 AM MGIC Investment (MTG): Q2 EPS of -$0.79 misses by $0.18. Revenue of $424.5M vs. consensus $457M. Shares +4.4%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:36 AM SunPower (SPWR): Q2 EPS of $0.61 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $383M vs. consensus of $343M. Sees full-year EPS of $2.26-2.36 vs. consensus of $2.17, and revenue of $1.39-$1.44B vs. $1.36B. Shares +0.8%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:35 AM Illinois Tool Works (ITW): Q2 EPS of $1.01 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $4.57B in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $3.40-3.52, short of consensus of $3.64. Shares +1.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:33 AM Valueclick (VCLK): Expects Q2 EPS of $0.17-0.18 vs. consensus of $0.16. Revenue of $163-164M vs. consensus $166-170M. Shares -15.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:29 AM Amedisys (AMED): Raises full-year EPS view to $3.00-3.10 from $2.70-2.80; consensus is for $2.75. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:29 AM Textron (TXT): Q2 EPS of $1.03 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $3.9B vs. consensus of $3.75B. Sees full-year EPS of $3.80-4.00 vs. consensus of $3.98. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:28 AM Entergy (ETR): Sees Q2 EPS of about $1.45 vs. consensus of $1.56, and full-year EPS of $6.50-6.90 vs. consensus of $6.83. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:28 AM Baxter (BAX): Q2 EPS of $0.85 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $3.2B vs. consensus $3.05B. Raises full-year EPS guidance to $3.28-3.32 from $3.18-3.24 vs. consensus $3.24. Shares -0.3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:25 AM PNC Financial (PNC): Q2 EPS of $1.45 beats by $0.29. Revenue of $2.04B vs. consensus of $1.85B. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:23 AM Huntington Bancshares (HBAN): Q2 EPS of $0.25 beats by $0.02. Sees full-year EPS of $1.25-1.35 vs. consensus of $1.04. Shares -1%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:23 AM International Game Tech (IGT): FQ3 EPS of $0.35 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $677M in-line. Shares +9.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:22 AM Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS): Q2 EPS of $0.17 in-line. Revenue of $319M vs. consensus of $413M. Shares +8.7%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:22 AM Revlon (REV): Q2 Revenue of $375M vs. consensus of $361M. Shares +23.2%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:02 AM TD AmeriTrade (AMTD): FQ3 EPS of $0.34 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $624M vs. consensus of $610M. Sees full-year EPS of about $1.34; consensus is $1.35. Shares +1.8%. [PR] Comment!
  • 8:00 AM Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE): Q2 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $5.94B in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $1.40-1.45 vs. consensus $1.41. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:58 AM BB&T (BBT): Q2 EPS of $0.71 beats by $0.03. Provision for credit losses of $330M is up $242M from last year. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:47 AM United Technologies (UTX): Q2 EPS of $1.32 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $15.7B vs. consensus of $15.33B. Shares +1.3%. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:44 AM Johnson Controls (JCI): FQ3 EPS of $0.73 in-line. Revenue of $9.86B in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.72-0.74, short of consensus of $0.84, and full-year EPS of $2.32-2.34 vs. consensus of $2.42. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:39 AM Harley-Davidson (HOG): Q2 EPS of $0.95 beats by $0.24. Revenue of $1.57B vs. consensus of $1.4B. Sees full-year EPS of $3.00-3.18 vs. consensus of $3.05. Shares +6.4%. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:38 AM CIT Group (CIT): Q2 EPS of -$7.88, including charges, vs. consensus of -$3.45. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:36 AM Bank of New York Mellon (BK): Q2 EPS of $0.74 misses by $0.01. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:33 AM BlackRock (BLK): Q2 EPS of $2.14 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $1.39B vs. consensus of $1.32B. Shares +2.5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:32 AM Coca-Cola (KO): Q2 EPS of $1.01 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $9.05B vs. consensus of $8.93B. Sees $400-$500M in annualized savings by 2011. Shares +2.6%. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:23 AM U.S. government debt  - no longer riskless? Comment!
  • 7:17 AM Danaher (DHR): Q2 EPS of $1.09 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $3.28B vs. consensus of $3.17B. [PR] Comment!
  • 7:15 AM Futures echo strong overseas gains. Dow +0.8%. S&P +0.8%. Nasdaq +1%. Comment!
  • 7:15 AM Crude -1.1% to $133.20. Gold -0.5% to $958. Comment!
  • 7:13 AM In Europe, markets are broadly higher at midday. London +2%. Paris +2.7%. Frankfurt +2%. Comment!
  • 7:13 AM Asia markets closed mainly higher. Nikkei +1% to 12,888. Hang Seng +2.4% to 21,735. Shanghai -0.8% to 2,685. BSE +4.3% to 13,112. Comment!
  • 7:10 AM Novartis (NVS): Q2 EPS of $0.99 beats consensus of $0.93. Revenue of $10.73B vs. consensus of $10.2B. Shares +2.1% in Zurich. [Bloomberg] Comment!
  • 7:07 AM Nokia (NOK): Q2 EPS of €0.36 beats consensus of €0.34. Sales of €13.2B vs. €12.8B consensus. Shares +8.1%. [Bloomberg] Comment!
  • 7:03 AM Continental (CAL): Q2 EPS of -$0.25 beats by $0.27. Revenue of $4.04B in-line. Shares +0.1%. [PR] Comment!
  • 6:58 AM JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Q2 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $18.39B vs. consensus of $16.55B. $1.1B of markdowns. Shares +5%. [PR] Comment!
  • 6:47 AM Merrill's (MER) $4.5B sale of its 20% stake in Bloomberg puts a price tag of at least $22.5B on the financial data and news provider. Merrill bought its stake, originally 30%, for just $30M in 1985. Comment!
  • 6:23 AM The $3.9B, 10-day mauling of newspaper stocks leaves all but the three biggest (GCI, NWS, WPO) with a collective market cap of just $3.6B. Silver lining: There isn't much further to fall. Comment!
  • 6:11 AM Henry Blodget's finance blog Alley Insider raised money -- less than $1MM at a $6MM valuation. It's grown faster than its competitors. Comment!
  • 6:03 AM Amazon (AMZN) will today launch Amazon Video on Demand, with 40,000 movies and TV shows available for immediate consumption to a group of trial customers. It has struck a deal with Sony to place the store on the Sony Bravia line of HD TVs. Watch AAPL and NFLX. Comment!
  • 5:58 AM Brokerage firms are scrambling to get their backoffices prepared before naked shortselling goes taboo Monday. Previous rules allowed shorting with a plan to borrow shares later. Comment!
  • 5:44 AM Asian markets: Japan's Nikkei +1.0%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +2.4%, India's BSE +3.7%, Taiwan's Weighted +3.9%, Singapore's Straits Times +1.0%, China's Shanghai Composite -0.8%. Comment!
  • 5:43 AM European markets: London +1.2%, Paris +1.4%, Frankfurt +1.0%. Comment!
  • 3:34 AM European appliance maker Electrolux missed analyst earnings estimates due to rising steel costs and weak U.S. and European demand. The appliance industry "is becoming generally more price competitive, with consumers preferring low-priced products..." said the CEO. Comment!
  • 3:28 AM "While we have certainly been impacted by the slowing economy, the extraordinary rise in the price of fuel has overwhelmed our efforts to keep revenues and costs in line." -- AMR (AMR) CEO Gerard J. Arpey. Look at how many times he mentioned fuel prices on his call! Comment!
  • 3:22 AM "Our average selling price declined by 6% compared to last year... we believe the slowing economies, particularly in the U.S. and the U.K., have caused consumers to trade down to lower priced items."  -- eBay (EBAY), from last night's call transcript. Comment!
  • 3:17 AM China's economy grew at 10.1% in Q2, down from 10.6% in Q1. Inflation was 7.1% in June, down from 7.7% in May. The news sent the yuan to its biggest decline in seven weeks, on speculation the government will slow its rise to protect exporters. Comment!
  • 2:55 AM Asian markets trading up Thursday: Japan's Nikkei +1.0%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +2.3%, India's BSE +2.7%, Taiwan's Weighted +2.9%, Singapore's Straits Times +1.5%, China's Shanghai Composite -0.7%. Comment!
  • 2:48 AM Notable earnings after Thursday's close: AMD, ATR, AVCT, BXS, BHLB, BRKL, BRO, COF, CYT, ESLR, FFIN, FBC, GILD, GOOG, ICUI, INDB, INFA, LEG, MBTF, MEAD, MSFT, FIZZ, PBCT, PMCS, SWKS, SYK, TPX, VMI, WINA, ZION. Comment!
  • 2:38 AM Notable earnings before Thursday's open: AOS, AMFI, BK, BAX, BBT, BLK, CHB, CIT, CCE, CMA, CAL, DHR, EDU, FCF, FFCH, GSBC, HOG, HNI, HOMB, HBAN, IGT, KNL, MMR, MEG, MEI, MTG, NAFC, NVS, ORB, PPG, PBKS, RS, SWY, SHW, SFNC, SOAP, SON, KO, UMPQ, UTX, VCP. Comment!
  • 1:01 AM Thursday's economic calendar:
    8:30 Housing Starts - consensus 0.96M
    8:30 Jobless Claims - consensus 378k
    10:00 Philadelphia Fed Survey - consensus -17.0
    10:35 EIA Natural Gas Report
    11:00 3-Month Bill Announcement
    11:00 6-Month Bill Announcement
    11:00 20-Year TIPS Announcement
    4:30 PM Money Supply Comment!