Pivotfarm Daily News Harvest 27th July 2010

Markets in a Flash

·        
Asian equity markets were mixed
last night, no real direction shone through. The Hang Seng was up +0.64%, while
the Nikkei 225 was down -0.07%.

·        
European equity markets are up
today. The Stoxx Europe 50 was up +1.2% at 0730ET. The FTSE 100 is up +0.83% at
the same time.

·        
Commodities are mainly up this
morning. Brazilian export problems push sugar to a 4 month high.  Oil is trading slightly above $79 while Gold
is struggling below $1200 as the risk appetite rises.

·        
The GBP has continued its
strong run against the USD and has broken out to a 3 month high this morning.

·        
The EUR/USD has broken out
above the 1.3000 level. This is as investors sell the greenback for increased
risk while the Euro benefits from Fridays stress test results.

·        
The EUR is seeing good strength
this morning as new 2 month highs have been made in its pairs with the JPY and
the GBP.

·        
US equity futures are higher
this morning indicating positive equity markets at the opening bell.

News Focus

Huge losses for BP and planned asset sale

Bob Dudley will
take the role as BP’s new CEO from the start of October. This was confirmed
after Mr Hayward stepped down from the position and will be taking on a role
with BP’s Russian operations. This comes as BP announced that it made a post
tax loss of $17Bn in the second quarter, this record loss was put down to the
$32.2Bn put aside as a provision for the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill. It has been reported that BP plans to sell $30Bn of assets to fund its
clean up operations. Bp’s hare price is marginally up this morning on the
London Stock Exchange at 418p.

Just Released

0745ET – ICSC-Goldman
Store Sales

Store Sales -
W/W change

Previous                              1.4 %                     Actual                                   0.6 %

Store Sales -
Y/Y

Previous                              4.2 %                     Actual                                   3.8 %

The increase in
store sales shown by these figures shows that consumer spending has risen
slightly this week. The growth is slower than last weeks and shows that growth
is slowing. Data showing that growth in the US is slowing is in line with other
economic data of recent times.

Coming up Today

0855ET – Redbook

This weekly
indicator is similar to the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales as it shows the health of
retail sales but is less consistent.  The
figure reported backs up the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales data, and if similar
should make for a stronger conclusion as to what is happening with consumer
spending. If consumer spending increases it is bullish for the economy and the
markets.

0900ET – S&P/Case-Shiller HPI

The house price
index released each month gives an indexed figure representative of house
prices across the US.
The figure released lags 2 months, so today’s figure is for house prices in
May. An increase in house prices reflects a recovery in the housing market and
in the general economy. If house prices rise the economy must be recovering,
this will prove bullish for equities and the US Dollar.

1000ET – Consumer
Confidence

Previous                              52.9                        Consensus                          51.0

Consensus Range            46.0 to 54.0 

The conference board’s survey asks 5000
consumers across the US
about present and future economic conditions. After a fall in the figure from
May to June today’s figure for July is expected to continue the falling trend.
Any figure that comes in above consensus will suggest stronger economic growth
and should prove bullish in the markets.

Provided by Pivotfarm.com - Support and Resistance Research

Comments

[Grand Supercycle]

EURO buying support mentioned since June continues and further upside is expected.

http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com

[crzyhun]

The dumping of Hayward is pr nothing else.