Pivotfarm Daily News Harvest 28th July 2010

Markets in a Flash

·        
Asian equity markets closed up
across the board overnight posting strong gains. The Nikkei 225 was up + 2.70%,
while the Shanghai Index was up +2.26%.

·        
European equity markets started
the day positive but at the European lunchtime the markets had fallen into
negative territory. The FTSE 100 was down more than -0.25%.

·        
Commodities seem to be trading
slightly higher this morning. Gold has risen slightly retracing some of its
falls from yesterday which saw it at a 2 and a half month low.

·        
The GBP and the EUR are trading
close to their recent highs against the USD. 
The EUR/USD is trading around the 1.3000 area.

·        
US equity futures are
fluctuating this morning offering no real indication of direction at the
opening bell.

News Focus

European markets
break their six day rising streak as the European Stoxx 600 falls -0.12%. The European
markets opened higher on Wednesday morning before falling into negative
territory. Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, made comments on
Wednesday morning which may have put bearish forces on the markets in Europe. He expressed that the UK would be in no rush to raise
interest rates, and indicated that conditions were nowhere near normal.

Just Released

0700ET – MBA Purchase
Applications

Purchase Index -
W/W Change

Previous                              3.4 %     Actual                   2.0 %

This data shows a further rise in the
number of mortgage applications for the US property market. This data shows
that the demand in the housing markets has risen.

0830ET – Durable Goods
Orders

New Orders - M/M
change

Previous                               -1.1 %          Consensus          1.0 %

Consensus Range            0.4 % to 4.0 %    Actual                 -1.0 %

The figure shows
the monthly change in the number of new orders placed with manufacturers for
immediate or future delivery of hard goods. Last month’s reduction was the first
that had been reported since the end of 2009.Todays repeat of a reduction in
new orders comes in unexpectedly lower than predicted. This reduction will put
bearish forces on the US
equity markets and the USD.

Coming up Today

1030ET – Petroleum Status
Report

The weekly report by the Energy Information
Administration provides data on US petroleum stocks. A reduction in stocks will
show an increase in the demand for petroleum and may be taken as an indicator
of an increase in spending. A low figure may put bullish pressure on oil prices
and oil companies.

1400ET – Beige Book

Released roughly
every 6 weeks the beige book is evidence of economic conditions in the US. It is used
by the Fed at its meeting prior to setting interest rates. The release of the
book does not have major effects on the markets, but the details contained
within can result in interest rate changes in the economy.

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