Rise and shine everyone.
The big news for today is Nvdia’s earnings after the close. They simply smashed earnings Q2 revenue by 20%+ and EPS by nearly 30%. And if that wasn’t enough, they guided 25% of ahead of consensus and the company announced a $25B share repurchase authorization.
US Equity Futures are trading higher on the news this morning after closing in the green yesterday. Gold is higher and Oil is reversing to the upside. Bitcoin is flat. Yields are also reversing higher after a down day yesterday. The yield curve is at -0.76%.
Asia and Australia
Asia equities ended higher in Thursday trading as tech stocks rose. Gains led by IT/internet stocks in Hong Kong with properties also giving support, mainland markets reversing yesterday's losses. Japan markets closed at day's peaks, Australia's ASX posted a solid gain.
South Korea's central bank held its 7D repo rate unchanged at 3.5% at its policy meeting Thursday, fifth consecutive meeting it has held rates steady.
US has decided to extend its one-year exemption allowing South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers to continue bringing advanced semiconductor technology and related equipment into China.
China customs Thursday banned seafood imports from Japan in response to release by Tokyo of treated radioactive water from destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Europe, Middle East, Africa
European equity markets higher, yet off the best levels. Financial services, chemicals, energy and technology sectors the best performers, while basic resources and construction stocks lag.
European gas prices down 18% as Offshore Alliance reached in-principle agreement Woodside LNG
Turkey hikes policy rate by 7.5% to 25% to fight inflation.
UK construction firms are struggling with the macro environment. Figures from the government Insolvency Services show 4,280 firms went under in 12 months to June, 16.5% more than the same period a year ago
The European Commission's latest consumer confidence reading showed a deterioration in sentiment with headline at -16.0 versus consensus -14.3 and prior -15.1.
The Americas
July FOMC minutes flagged as bearish, though still seemed largely in line with Fedspeak and June dot plot takeaways. Focus now shifts to Jackson Hole conference with Powell likely to speak on 25-Aug.
According to Goldman Sachs, ~95% of S&P 500 companies have exited their buyback blackout windows. Added that August has historically been the strongest month for buyback executions and this month appears no different with its buybacks desk seeing executions 40% above 2023 average thus far.
There is growing chatter around potential government shutdown this fall. Treasury may be trying to raise funds ahead of potential shutdown, which could be putting upward pressure on yields, a dynamic that also reflects the risk that Fitch warned against in last month's US downgrade.
Calendars
(news taken from Reuters, FT, Bloomberg; Calendar from Trading Economics and Benzinga Pro)
