Day Traders Diary

8/7/14

U.S. equity futures trade modestly higher despite cautious action overseas. The S&P 500 futures hover three points above fair value after spending the entire night in positive territory. With just two economic data points on today's schedule, market participants have been reacting to quarterly reports as the busy portion of the reporting period draws to the close.

In notable U.S. corporate news:

21st Century Fox (FOXA 34.05, +1.72): +5.3% after beating on earnings and revenue
Molycorp (MCP 2.30, +0.26): +12.8% after securing a $400 million financing agreement. Separately, the company reported below-consensus earnings and revenue for the second quarter
Thoratec (THOR 23.00, -9.57): -29.1% after missing revenue estimates and guiding full-year results below analyst expectations. The stock was downgraded at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs following the report
YY (YY 81.20, -1.55): -1.9% after beating on both metrics and guiding higher
Windstream (WIN 11.11, -0.44): -3.8% after missing earnings estimates and reaffirming its guidance
Treasuries hold modest gains with the 10-yr yield down two basis points at 2.45%.

Weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 308K) will be released at 8:30 ET, while the Consumer Credit report for June (consensus $15.80 billion) will cross the wires at 15:00 ET.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Asian markets ended mostly lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.8%, China's Shanghai Composite -1.3%, and Japan's Nikkei +0.5%
Economic data was limited:
Australia's Employment Change came in at -300 (expected 12,000; previous 14,900), while the Unemployment Rate jumped to 6.4% from 6.0% (expected 6.0%). Separately, AIG Construction Index rose to 52.6 from 52.0
In news:
China's Shanghai Composite underperformed amid profit taking after a big run. The index entered the session with a 7.9% advance over the past three weeks. Also of note, Fitch commented on the property sector, saying speculation could re-emerge after credit standards were loosened.
Major European indices trade mostly lower. Great Britain's FTSE -0.2%, France's CAC -0.4%, and Germany's DAX is unchanged. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB +0.5% and Spain's IBEX -0.4%
In economic data:
The European Central Bank made no changes to its policy, keeping all three rates unchanged.
The Bank of England also maintained its policy stance and kept the key rate and the purchasing program unchanged at 0.5% and GBP375 billion, respectively
Germany's Industrial Production ticked up 0.3% month-over-month (expected 1.3%; previous -1.7%)
France's Trade Deficit widened to EUR5.40 billion from EUR5.10 billion (expected deficit of EUR4.80 billion)
Spain's Industrial Production rose 0.8% year-over-year (expected 3.0%; previous 2.5%)
Among news of note:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the government will review the use of transportation air routes and consider banning EU and US flights through the Russian airspace.

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