CFD Markets News and Forecasts — 20-07-2011

To date 88 companies of S&P 500 have already reported earnings: 78% of them have beat expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.
Intel Corp. and American Express Co. are companies reporting earnings today.

The chairman of senate antitrust subcommittee Chair Herb Kohl called to block the AT&T's merger as it may hurt national competitors. Recently AT&T announced its plans to buy the T-Mobile USA division of Deutsche Telekom.

Today the main pressure today was US data on real estate market as before the bell the National Association of Realtors reported sales of single-family existing homes fell by 0.8%, the third consecutive monthly drop. The figure declined to 477K, down from analysts’ estimates of 494K and 481K in May.

Despite better-than-expected earnings from Apple Inc., it didn’t lead a new rally in Technology sector. In addition, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) disappointed investors as company's Q2 revenue was below analysts' expectations, as well as Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI).

Yesterday after hours President Barack Obama praised a bipartisan plan of to cut $3.7 trillion through tax hikes and spending cuts. He calls the Senate "gang of 6" proposal "broadly consistent".

Currently: Dow 12,594 +7 +0.05%, Nasdaq 2,821 -5 -0.19%, S&P 1,329 +2 +0.16%.

• is in contact with EU/global financial authorities;
• expects the weak US recovery remains;market takes an excessively short-term view when China GDP slows down;
• expects US to solve debt ceiling impasse;
• if US defaults, would be implications for financial markets, expects agreement, not default;
• expect BOC rate hikes as economic slack pauses;
• declined to give detailed guidance on rate hikes.

On Wednesday Canada’s dollar advanced to the highest since May 2 against the greenback as optimism that policy makers in Europe and the U.S. will address debt conflicts drove demand for higher-yielding assets.

The rate was supported after Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney yesterday adjusted wording in a statement to suggest interest rate increases will happen as early as September.
Crude oil rose for a second day.
“We still like the Canadian dollar,” said Chris Walker, a currency strategist at UBS AG. “People are looking for reasons to buy it, even at these levels.”
Today in its Monetary Policy report the central bank said inflation will average 2.8% between July and September and slow to 1.9% in the second quarter of next year . The so-called core rate, which excludes energy and food prices, will peak at 2.1% in the first quarter of 2012.
The policy rate was kept at 1%, where it’s been since September.
Today's data showed Canadian wholesale sales increased 1.9% to C$47.6 billion ($50 billion) in May, the fastest rate in 18 months. The median was for a 0.1% rise.uch as 1.6 percent to $99.02 a barrel in New York.

• is in contact with EU/global financial authorities;

• expects the weak US recovery remains;

• market takes an excessively short-term view when China GDP slows down;

• expects US to solve debt ceiling impasse;

• if US defaults, would be implications for financial markets, expects agreement, not default;

• expect BOC rate hikes as economic slack pauses;

• declined to give detailed guidance on rate hikes.

American Express Company (AXP) Q2 $0.99 expected eps vs $0.84 year ago;
E*trade Financial Corp (ETFC) Q2 $0.16 expected eps vs $0.12 year ago;
eBay Inc (EBAY) Q2 $0.46 expected eps vs $0.40 year ago;
SLM Corp (SLM) Q2 $0.42 expected eps vs $0.39 year ago.

Despite a positive tone to premarket trade, stocks have been hit with a flurry of selling at the open. That has left the broad market to slide to the neutral line.
Financials have been a source of early support, though. The sector is currently up 0.8%, which makes it the best performing group in early action. Bank stocks, collectively up 1.0% according to the KBW Bank Index, have underpinned the overall financial sector's strength this morning.

U.S. stocks were headed for early gains Wednesday as Apple's knockout results lifted the tech sector and speculation about a debt ceiling deal boosted the broader market.
U.S. stocks surged Tuesday, with the Dow staging its strongest one-day rally of the year after President Obama indicated he would support a plan to raise the debt ceiling that had been floated by a bipartisan group of senators.
Companies: Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) reported blowout earnings after the bell Tuesday -- hitting all-time highs with its quarterly profit and revenue, with iPhone and iPad sales. Shares were up 4% premarket.
BlackRock (BLK, Fortune 500) reported earnings of $3.00 per share on $2.35 billion in revenue Wednesday, topping analyst estimates by 12 cents.
S&P member Altria (MO, Fortune 500) reported earnings per share of 21 cents, down 58% in the second quarter. Most of the decrease was attributable to a one-time leveraged lease transaction.
After the bell, Dow components American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) and chipmaker Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) will issue their quarterly results.
Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) reported second-quarter earnings Tuesday evening that met Wall Street estimates. But the company reported weakness in display and search revenue, as well as a lower-than-expected outlook. Shares were off 1.4% in premarket trading.
Real estate site Zillow will make its public debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday under the ticker "Z."
Economy: The National Association of Realtors will release its report on existing home sales for June.
World markets:

Oil for August delivery increased $1.25 to $98.75 a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery dropped $13.30 to $1,587.80 an ounce. Gold prices settled at a record high of $1,603.50 an ounce on Tuesday.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, pushing the yield up to 2.93% from 2.89% late Tuesday.

• EFSF should be able to buy bonds on secondary market.

The dollar fell to its weakest in almost a week against the euro as stocks rose amid speculation policy makers are moving closer to resolving a deadlock on U.S. borrowing and to finding an agreement on Europe’s debt crisis.
Spanish and Italian bonds rose a second day before French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet to seek common ground on tackling the region’s debt woes.
“Hope springs eternal,” said Sebastien Galy, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale SA in London. “Equities are probably going to continue to do quite well and since the main funding currency is the dollar, the net effect is going to be dollar-negative.”
Euro-area leaders are preparing for the second meeting in a month to hammer out a solution to the Greek debt crisis, which pushed the euro to $1.3837 last week, the lowest level since March. Sarkozy will dine with Merkel in Berlin today before the debt summit in Brussels tomorrow
The gathering could be a “make-or-break moment” for the euro region, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said in an interview.
The yield on 10-year Italian bonds fell 13 basis points to 5.60 percent and the Spanish 10-year yield was 14 basis points lower, at 5.96 percent.
Officials are considering steps previously rejected by Germany, including the use of precautionary credit lines, to prevent the crisis spreading, a person close to the talks said.

• Leaders must agree new scope for EFSF;
• Repair of european banking sector still needed

EUR/USD $1.4150, $1.4200, $1.4205, $1.4250, $1.4285
USD/JPY Y78.30, Y79.00, Y79.30, Y80.00, Y80.15
GBP/USD $1.5900
EUR/GBP stg0.8750
EUR/CHF Chf1.1450
AUD/USD $1.0650, $1.0660, $1.0750, $1.0770, $1.0800

• sees rising external shock risks;
  
• Robust GDP growth also for 2012

• sees rising external shock risks;
  
• Robust GDP growth also for 2012

EUR/USD $1.4000, $1.4075, $1.4205, $1.4250
USD/JPY Y78.30, Y79.00, Y79.30, Y80.00, Y80.15
GBP/USD $1.5900
EUR/CHF Chf1.1450
AUD/USD $1.0650, $1.0660, $1.0750, $1.0770, $1.0800

Recovery extends above the 76.4% retrace of the move down from Asia highs at $1.6142 to pre Minutes release lows at $1.6069 at $1.6125, which one trader suggests should open a move back toward the overnight  high. Offers seen in place from $1.6142 through to $1.6152 (76.4% of  the larger $1.6178/1.6069 move), a break to open a move toward $1.6178.

•  Most MPC See Near Term Tightening Less Likely;
• 7 BOE MPC Voted for Unchanged Bank Rate; 2 for Hike;
• BOE MPC Dale, Weale Voted for 25bps Rate Hike;
• 8 BOE MPC Voted for Unchanged QE; Posen Voted for stg50bn Increase;
• Most MPC: Recent Events Reduced Likelihood Near Term Tightening;
• Most MPC: Weak Activity Likely to Last Longer Than Expected;
• MPC Majority Made No Explicit Reference To QE;

Nikkei 10,006 +116.18 +1.17% 
Hang Seng  21,972 +69.34 +0.32%  
S&P/ASX   4,550 +81.56 +1.83%  
Shanghai Composite  2,794 -2.78 -0.10%

Resistance 3: Y79.90 (high of american session on Jul 12) 

Resistance 3: $ 1.6260 (Jun 22 high)

Resistance 3: $ 1.4370 (Jul 7-8 high)

05:00 Japan  Leading indicators composite index (May) final - 99.8