The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wednesday, with sentiment reflecting buoyancy on the back of some solid earnings announcements, both domestic and overseas. Meanwhile, durable goods orders report released a short while ago showed weak durable goods orders. The sore data point may reinforce market expectations that the Fed will go very slow on its monetary policy normalization schedule.
Stocks in Europe are rising strongly for the third straight session, thanks to earnings and economic data on German consumer climate and U.K. Second quarter GDP. Commodities are all higher, although oil is seeing a small down move. The dollar is mixed. The domestic markets may also keep a tab on the pending home sales report ahead of the release of the Fed's monetary policy statement. U.S. stocks moved about in a lackluster manner on Tuesday before ending mixed amid the release of mixed earnings news. The major averages opened higher and held above the unchanged line till late morning deals. The Dow Industrials spent much of the remaining session below the unchanged line before ending down 19.31 points or 0.10 percent at 18,474. The Nasdaq Composite, which hovered mostly in the green, ended 12.42 points or 0.24 percent higher at 5,110. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index moved back and forth across the unchanged line before ending up 0.70 points or 0.03 percent at 2,169, off its all time closing high hit last Friday. Sixteen of the thirty Dow components advanced in the session, while fourteen stocks retreated. McDonald's (MCD) fell 4.47 percent and led the Dow's decline and Verizon (VZ), Coca-Cola (KO), Nike (NKE) and 3M Co. (MMM) were among the worst decliners of the session. On the other hand, Caterpillar (CAT) rallied 5.16 percent. United Technologies (UTX), Intel (INTC) and Coca-Cola (KO) also gained ground. Among the sectors, semiconductor, gold, energy, computer hardware and transportation stocks gained ground. On the economic front, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for July edged down 0.1 points to 97.3 in July. The previous month's reading of 97.4 was revised from the initially estimated reading of 98. Economists expected a reading of 96. The present situation index rose 1.7 points to 118.3, but the expectations index slipped 1.3 points to 83.3. The Commerce Department reported that new home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 in June, while economists expected a decline in new home sales to 562,000 from the previous month's upwardly revised reading of 572,000. The median price of a new home rose 6.2 percent month-over-month to $306,700, translating to an annual gain of 6.1 percent. However, supply was weak, with inventories measured in terms of months of supply dipping to 4.9 months from 5.1 months in May and 5.5 months in the year-ago period. The S&P/Case-Shiller 30-city composite house price index for May edged down 0.1 percent month-over-month following a downwardly revised 0.2 percent drop in April. Economists expected 0.4 percent growth, adding onto the initially reported 0.5 percent growth for the previous month. Annual growth decelerated to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent. A flash estimate released by Markit showed that its U.S. service sector PMI eased to 50.9 in July from 51.3 in June. Currency, Commodity Markets Crude oil futures for September delivery are slipping $0.11 to $42.81 a barrel after declining $0.59 to $42.92 a barrel in the previous session. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold for August delivery is currently trading at $1,322.60, up $1.80 from the previous session's close of $1,320.80. On Tuesday, gold rose $3.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 105.68 yen compared to the 104.66 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0997 compared to yesterday's $1.0986.
Asia Most Asian markets advanced, with the gains led by the Japanese and Indonesian markets, while in the rest of the major markets the gains were less convincing. On the other hand, Chinese stocks fell steeply and the New Zealand and South Korean posted modest losses. The Japanese market rose, breaking a 3-session losing streak, as the yen rally stalled following yesterday's spike. The Nikkei 225 Index opened higher and moved sideways in the morning. After a steady climb in the afternoon, the index moved sideways yet again and closed 281.78 points or 1.72 percent higher at 16,665. A majority of stocks rose, led by exporters, while some utility and telecom stocks moved to the downside. Australia's All Ordinaries Index started strongly but the momentum faltered over the course of the session. After some volatility throughout the afternoon, the index up merely 2.40 points or 0.04 percent at 5,615. Material stocks rose strongly, but real estate, consumer, healthcare, real estate and telecom stocks came under selling pressure. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 89.26 points or 0.40 percent before ending at 22,219, while China's Shanghai Composite slumped 58.17 points or 1.91 percent to 2,992. On the economic front, profit of Chinese industrial firms rose 5.1 percent year-over-year to 616.31 billion yuan in June following a 3.7 percent increase in May. The Australia Bureau of Statistics reported that consumer prices in Australia rose 1 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, smaller than the 1.1 percent increase expected by economists. Sequentially, consumer prices edged up 0.4 percent, in line with estimates. The Reserve Bank's trimmed mean annual inflation was at 1.7 percent, above expectations of 1.5 percent. The weighted median inflation was at 1.3 percent, in line with estimates. Europe European stocks started on a strong note following two straight sessions of advances. A slew of domestic earnings and data, earnings across the Atlantic and the impending FOMC decision are impacting the sentiment of traders. In major corporate news, Bayer raised its growth forecasts for the year after reporting an 18.6 percent rise in second-quarter net profit. Puma turned to a profit in the second quarter, compared to a loss of 3.3 million euros last year. BASF reported a second-quarter net income decline of 173 million euros to 1.092 billion euros due to lower oil and gas prices. Deutsche Bank's second-quarter net income plunged to 20 million euros from 818 million euros last year amid low interest rates and volatile markets. Among French corporations, Air France-KLM, Airbus, Cap Gemini and Accor reported positive results. On the economic front, the results of a forward-looking consumer sentiment survey by GfK showed that confidence among consumers in Germany is set to weaken in August. The consumer climate index fell to 10 in August from 10.1 in July. Among the sub-indexes, economic expectations and income expectations indexes, pertaining to July, receded, but the index measuring the propensity to buy increased. The U.K. economy grew at a faster pace in the second quarter amid the "Brexit" vote, the advance estimate released by the Office for National Statistics showed. Second quarter GDP expanded 0.6 percent in the three months to June from the prior quarter. This was faster than the 0.5 percent growth forecast by economists and the 0.4 percent expansion seen in the first quarter. On the production side, the dominant services sector posted a 0.5 percent expansion and production increased by 2.1 percent. In contrast, construction output decreased 0.4 percent and agricultural output fell 1.0 percent. On an annual basis, GDP rose 2.2 percent in the second quarter versus the 2.1 percent expected by economists. U.S. Economic Reports New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods tumbled by 4.0 percent in June following a revised 2.8 percent decrease in May. Economists had expected durable goods orders to dip by 1.3 percent compared to the 2.2 percent decline originally reported for the previous month. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.5 percent in June after slipping by 0.4 percent in May. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.3 percent. At 10 am ET, the National Association of Realtors is due to release its pending home sales index for June. The consensus estimate calls for a 1.3 percent month-over-month increase in pending home sales. Pending home sales fell 3.7 percent month-over-month in May compared to the 1 percent drop estimated by economists. This reversed the downwardly revised 3.9 percent increase in April. Annually, pending home sales were down 0.2 percent.
The Energy Information Administration is set to release its weekly petroleum status report for the week ended July 22nd at 10:30 am ET. Crude oil stockpiles fell by 2.3 million barrels to 519.50 million barrels in the week ended July 15th. Despite the drop, stockpiles were at historically high levels for this time of year. Distillate inventories decreased by 0.2 million barrels but were above the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories added 0.9 million barrels and were well above the upper limit of the average range. Refinery capacity utilization averaged 92.7 percent over the four weeks ended July 15th compared to 92.3 percent for the four weeks ended July 8th. The FOMC is due to announce its monetary policy decision at 2 pm ET following the conclusion of a 2-day meeting. Stocks in Focus Apple (AAPL) reported better than expected third quarter results and issued positive revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. Boeing (BA) reported a narrower than expected loss and better than expected revenues for its second quarter. While the company lowered its full year core earnings per share guidance, it maintained its revenue guidance.
Coca-Cola (KO) reported above-consensus second quarter adjusted earnings per share but its revenues missed estimates.
Comcast (KO) reported above-consensus second quarter results.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) reported in line second quarter earnings per share but its revenues were below estimates. The company's third quarter revenue guidance issued on the conference call also trailed estimates. Ameriprise Financial's (AMP) second quarter adjusted earnings per share missed expectations. Anadarko Petroleum (APC) reported a loss for its second quarter that was narrower than estimates, as cost cuts helped the company counter weakness in crude oil prices. Revenues also exceeded estimates. The company raised the mid-point of its production guidance for the year slightly. BJ Restaurants (BJRI) reported below-consensus earnings and revenues for its second quarter. Edward Lifesciences (EW) reported better than expected second quarter results and raised its full year guidance Illumina's (ILMN) second quarter results exceeded estimates and the company issued upbeat guidance for the full year. Juniper Networks (JNPR) also reported above-consensus results for its second quarter but its third quarter guidance was weak. Linear Technologies (LLTC) announced a deal to be bought by Analog Devices (ADI), with the combined company valued at about $30 billion. Analog Devices also raised its third quarter guidance. Twitter's (TWTR) second quarter adjusted earnings per share beat estimates but revenues were light. The company's third quarter revenues forecast was weak. Amgen (AMGN), Barrick Gold (ABX), Cheesecake Factor (CAKE), Facebook (FB), GoPro (GPRO), Groupon (GRPN), InterActive (ICA), Knight Transportation (KNX), Marriott (MAR), Murphy Oil (MUR), NETGEAR (NTGR), O'Reilly Auto (ORLY), Rent-A-Center (RCII), Unum Group (UNM), Whole Foods (WFM) and XL Group (XL) are among the companies due to release their quarterly results after the close of trading.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.