Day Traders Diary

7/24/17

Equity futures point to a slightly lower open for the stock market this morning. The S&P 500 futures currently trade three points, or 0.1%, below fair value.

Oil ministers gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia on Monday to discuss compliance with the OPEC-led production cut agreement that began at the start of the year and has since been extended to March of 2018. Following the meeting, Saudi Arabia has promised to make deep cuts to its crude exports in August and Nigeria--which was originally exempt from the production cut--has agreed to limit its oil exports to 1.8 million barrels per day.

WTI crude extended its earlier gain following the aforementioned headlines and currently trades higher by 0.8% at $46.15/bbl. Today's uptick places the commodity in positive territory for the month (+0.2%).

U.S. Treasuries are relatively flat this morning with the benchmark 10-yr yield unchanged at 2.24%. The U.S. Dollar Index (93.77, -0.01) also trades flat, hovering near a 14-month low.

On the data front, today's lone economic report--June Existing Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus 5.58 million)--will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

In U.S. corporate news:

Halliburton (HAL 45.55, +1.17): +2.6% after beating top and bottom line estimates.

Hasbro (HAS 108.99, -6.96): -6.0% despite beating bottom-line estimates.

WebMD Health (WBMD 66.08, +10.89): +19.7% following news that the company will be acquired by KKR (KKR 20.00, +0.62) for $66.50 per share in cash, which represents a 20.0% premium.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region began the week on a mixed note. Japan's Nikkei -0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.5%, China's Shanghai Composite +0.4%, India's Sensex rose 0.7%.

In economic data:

Japan's July Manufacturing PMI 52.2 (expected 52.3; last 52.4) and Leading Index 104.6 (consensus 104.7; previous 104.7)

Singapore's June CPI +0.5% year-over-year (consensus 0.7%; last 1.4%)

In news:

China's Academy of Social Sciences forecast Q3 GDP growing at 6.8% while fourth quarter growth is expected to hit 6.7%, resulting in 6.8% growth for 2017. Meanwhile, the IMF raised its growth expectations for China to 6.7% from 6.6% forecast in April.

In Japan, the approval rating of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet has continued falling, dropping to 26.0%, according to Mainichi.

Major European indices trade on a mostly lower note while Italy's MIB outperforms. UK's FTSE -1.0%, Germany's DAX -0.5%, France's CAC unch, Italy's MIB +0.2%.

In economic data:

Eurozone July Manufacturing PMI 56.8 (expected 57.2; previous 57.4) and Services PMI 55.4 (expected 55.5; last 55.5)

Germany's July Manufacturing PMI 58.3 (consensus 59.2; last 59.6) and Services PMI 53.5 (expected 54.3; last 54.0)

France's July Manufacturing PMI 55.4 (expected 54.6; last 54.8) and Services PMI 55.9 (consensus 56.7; last 56.4)

In news:

The International Monetary Fund increased its 2017 growth forecast for the eurozone to 1.9% from 1.7% and lowered its forecast for UK growth to 1.7% from 2.0%.

Fitch affirmed Spain's BBB+ rating and revised the outlook to 'Positive' from 'Stable' while DBRS affirmed Germany's AAA rating with a 'Stable' trend.

Flash PMI readings reported today were mostly weaker than expected, but they remained in expansionary territory.