The Challenger Jobs report fell from 61k to 37k. The report shows that employers are reluctant to cut jobs for the time being.
Comments »Monthly Archives: July 2012
FLASH: The Euro Breaks 1.25 and U.S. Futures Erase Gains to Go Negative
The ECB Cuts Rates by 0.25%
“The European Central Bank just cut interest rates by 25 bps to 0.75 percent.
That is the lowest ECB benchmark rate target ever.”
Comments »China’s Flooding of Money Markets May Confirm Interest Rate Cuts
China has been flooding money markets with hard cold cash, or digits, and is seen as a confirmation of further monetary policy. We just got a report that China has cut interest rates.
Comments »The Bank of England Offers Up 50 Billion Sterling in QE
The BoE is meeting this afternoon to discuss interest rate policy. At the moment, they have announced additional QE of 50 Billion Sterling.
Comments »FLASH: Futures Pop on a Wire Report of China Cutting Interest Rates
DOW futures have popped from negative to +45 as a wire service reports that a website in China is reporting that China has cut interest rates….developing….
Exxon Mobil Said To Explore Sale Of German Esso Gas Stations
$XOM is considering selling over 1100 gas stations in Germany. The Sale may fetch over 1.3 billion Euros. Given Germany is the strongest European economy it is a wonder why the sale would take place. However this follows suit with other divestitures in markets where gasoline consumption is on the decline.
Comments »Oil Hits One Month Highs as Norway Cuts Production
“Oil rose to its highest in a month in London as Statoil ASA (STL), Norway’s largest oil producer, prepared to halt production from the country as employers locked out striking platform workers after mediation talks failed.
Brent futures gained as much as 2.5 percent. The Norwegian Oil Industry Association, which represents employers, will ban all members of the Industri Energi, SAFE and Lederne labor unions who are covered by offshore pay agreements from midnight on July 9, Statoil said today on its website. Oil had advanced earlier on forecasts that the European Central Bank will cutinterest rates today and that U.S. inventory data will show crude supplies declined.”
Comments »The Euro Falls for a Second Day Testing the 1.25 Area
The Euro remains weak as traders wait to see rate policy out of the ECB later this morning.
Comments »Gold Follows Equities on a Flat Note as Traders Await the ECB Rate Decision
Gold is currently down 0.23% and has traded around the unch line as traders wait on the ECB rate decision.
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Bond Yields Fall For Spain in Their First Auction Since the EU Summit
Spain went to the debt markets to finance 3 year bonds. Yields fell from 5.45% to 5.08.
Comments »The Baltic Index Seeks to Double Asian Membership
Given 75% of the Baltic Index business comes from Asia, they will try to double membership over the next two years.
Comments »China’s Beige Book Shows a Pickup in Growth Last Quarter
“China’s official statistics may be lagging behind independent data that show a pickup in the world’s second-biggest economy last quarter, according to a new private survey modeled on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
The China Beige Book, through interviews of about 2,000 company executives and bankers, found retail sales and manufacturing strengthened while property sales increased and shortages of unskilled labor failed to abate. CBB International LLC, the New York-based researcher that conducted the survey, provided a summary to Bloomberg News via e-mail yesterday.”
Comments »CBRC Sees China’s New Banking Rules Curbing Lending
“China plans to retain a cap on loans at 75 percent of deposits and may add further requirements that constrain credit growth under draft rules, a senior official at the banking regulator said.
The liquidity-risk management regulations may be more stringent than the loan-to-deposit ratio set by the nation’s commercial bank laws, the China Banking Regulatory Commission official said, asking not to be named because the discussions aren’t public. The comments refute a report in the Economic Information Daily, which said today that the ratio won’t be included in the new rules and may be scrapped.”
Comments »Australia Pushes For a Deeper Aussie – Yuan Market
China remains Australia’s largest trading partner, and as a result the Australian government is pushing for a deeper internationalization of the Yuan.
Comments »The Aussie Dollar Falls on European Slowdown Concerns
The Aussie fell in overnight trade as Europe continues to cast doubt on global growth…
Comments »Ireland Makes a Return to the Debt Markets After a Two Year Hiatus
“Ireland returns to public debt markets following an almost two-year absence amid speculation that European efforts to ease the financial burden of nations that received bailouts will lure investors.
The National Treasury Management Agency plans to sell 500 million euros ($628 million) of bills due in October, the first auction since September 2010, the Dublin-based NTMA said two days ago. Spain is scheduled to issue as much as 3 billion euros of securities maturing between 2015 and 2022, with France also selling bonds.”
Comments »Global Markets Flip Flop Around the Unchanged Line
Asian Stocks, Oil Drop On Signs Europe Slump Is Worsening
Comments »Asian stocks retreated from an eight- week high and crude oil dropped after data indicated a worsening economic slump in Europe. The yen weakened against most major peers as Japansignaled further monetary easing.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.4 percent as of 11:25 a.m. in Tokyo, while futures on theStandard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.4 percent. The yen traded weaker than 80 versus the dollar for the first time since June 25. The Philippine peso rose toward a four-year high after a Standard & Poor’s upgrade, while crude oil fell 0.8 percent in New York, where financial markets were closed yesterday for a holiday. Treasuries gained before U.S. jobs reports today and tomorrow.
Gold Climbs As ECB Rate Reduction May Help Fan Inflation
Comments »Gold climbed to near a two-week high on speculation that a decision by the European Central Bank to cut interest rates may help to fan inflation, and after holdings in exchange-traded products expanded to an all-time high.
Immediate-delivery gold gained as much as 0.2 percent to $1,619.13 an ounce and was at $1,619.07 at 10:37 a.m. in Singapore. Holdings in exchange-traded products rose to a record 2,412.42 metric tons on July 3, data tracked by Bloomberg show.
The ECB will probably reduce the benchmark rate 25 basis points to a record low of 0.75 percent today, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 62 economists, as policy makers battle the region’s debt crisis. The Bank of England may raise its target for bond purchases today, boosting it by 50 billion pounds ($78 billion), another survey shows.
