Day Traders Diary

8/23/13

U.S. equity futures hold slim gains with the S&P 500 futures up 0.1%.

Looking at overnight developments:

Asian markets ended on a mixed note. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.2%, China's Shanghai Composite -0.5%, and Japan's Nikkei +2.2% as USDJPY climbed to test the 99.00 level.

Economic data was limited to just one item of note:

China's foreign direct investment increased to 7.1% year-to-date (4.9% prior).

In news:

A researcher from the China Academy of Social Sciences warned the country may once again face liquidity issues during the second half of the year.

Major European indices trade in mixed fashion. Great Britain's FTSE +0.5%, Germany's DAX +0.2%, and France's CAC -0.1%.

In regional economic data:

Germany's second quarter GDP increased 0.7% quarter-over-quarter, as expected.

Great Britain's second quarter GDP was revised up to reflect growth of 0.7% quarter-over-quarter (0.6% expected, 0.6% previous). In addition, BBA Mortgage Approvals came in at 37.2K (39.2K expected, 37.3K previous), business investment rose 0.9% quarter-over-quarter (0.6% forecast, -1.9% prior), and the Index of Services climbed 0.6% (0.7% consensus, 0.7% previous).

Looking at news:

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the Greek economy may enter expansion next year, but is still likely to need a new aid package that would be much lower than previous bailouts.

In U.S. corporate news:

Aeropostale (ARO 9.60, -1.38) is -12.6% after reporting a bottom-line miss on a 6.4% year-over-year decline in revenue.

Autodesk (ADSK 36.75, +0.62) is +1.7% after beating on earnings. In addition, the company issued downside third quarter earnings and revenue guidance.

Gap (GPS 42.25, +0.24) is +0.9% after reporting in-line results and announcing plans to hike its annual dividend to $0.80 from $0.60 beginning in the third quarter of the current year.

Pandora Media (P 20.38, -1.33) is -6.1% after the company's cautious third quarter earnings guidance overshadowed its above-consensus earnings and revenue.

Foot Locker (FL 34.50, +0.49) is +1.4% after missing earnings expectations by one cent.

Today's economic data will be limited to July new home sales with the report set to be released at 10:00 ET.

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