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| US Market | | NYSE | AMEX | Dow Jones | Nasdaq | | | | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday following the downturn seen over the course of the previous session.
The markets may benefit from optimism about the Republican tax reform plan despite some GOP Senators raising concerns about the bill.
A House-Senate conference committee seeking to negotiate differences in the bills passed by the two chambers is expected to release their combined legislation this afternoon.
After an early move to the upside, stocks turned lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The Dow pulled back into negative territory after reaching a new record intraday high.
While the Dow dipped 76.77 points or 0.3 percent to 24,508.66, the Nasdaq fell 19.27 points or 0.3 percent to 6,856.53 and the S&P 500 slid 10.83 points or 0.4 percent to 2,652.01.
The downturn by stocks came amid uncertainty about the outlook for the Republican tax reform plan after Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., indicated his opposition to the legislation currently being negotiated.
Rubio wants an expansion of the proposed child tax credit, while Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., voted against the original Senate bill due to concerns about the cost of the plan.
Republicans can only afford to lose two votes in the Senate and still pass the bill with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence.
The initial strength on Wall Street came following the release of a batch of upbeat economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing a bigger than expected increase in retail sales in the month of November.
The report said retail sales climbed by 0.8 percent in November after rising by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in October.
Economists had expected retail sales to increase by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.
Excluding a modest decrease in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales surged up by 1.0 percent in November after climbing by 0.4 percent in October.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected decrease in initial jobless claims in the week ended December 9th.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 225,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 236,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 239,000.
Another report released by the Labor Department showed import prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of November, while export prices rose by much more than anticipated.
The Labor Department said its import price index climbed by 0.7 percent in November after inching up by 0.1 percent in October.
Export prices rose by 0.5 percent in November after ticking up by 0.1 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected export prices to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing a modest decrease in business inventories in the month of October.
The Commerce Department said business inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in October after showing no change in September. The slight drop in inventories matched economist estimates.
Biotechnology stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 2.2 percent.
Telecom, steel, brokerage, and trucking stocks also saw considerable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.
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| U.S. Economic Reports | | CADUSD | Oil | Gold | Allbanc | | | | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | |
Growth in New York manufacturing activity slowed by more than anticipated in the month of December, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The New York Fed said its general business conditions index dropped to 18.0 in December from 19.4 in November, although a positive reading still indicates growth in regional manufacturing activity. The index had been expected to dip to 18.6.
At 9:15 am ET, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its report on industrial production in the month of November. Production is expected to rise by 0.3 percent.
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| Stocks in Focus |
Shares of Adobe Systems (ADBE) are moving higher in pre-market trading after the design software developer reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and raised its guidance for 2018.
Warehouse retailer Costco (COST) may also move to the upside after reporting fiscal first quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
On the other hand, shares of Oracle (ORCL) are likely to come under pressure after the business software giant reported better than expected fiscal second quarter results but provided disappointing guidance for its cloud-computing business.
Wearable fitness device maker Fitbit (FIT) is also seeing pre-market weakness after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded its rating on the company?s stock to Sell from Hold. |
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| Europe |
European stocks are turning in a mixed performance amid uncertainty about the outlook for U.S. tax reform plan and as traders assess messages from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings.
While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In corporate news, Hennes & Mauritz AB or H&M have fallen sharply after the Swedish retailer reported weak sales in its fourth quarter. The second largest fashion retailer's results were hurt by fewer shoppers visiting its stores.
Italian luxury goods company Ferragamo has also moved to the downside after saying it could not confirm earlier set three-year targets and that 2018 would be another year of transition.
Ryanair Holdings has also moved lower after the airline said it has invited pilot unions for talks to recognize them and that it will now change the long-standing policy of not recognizing unions in order to avoid any threat of disruption to its flights during Christmas week.
Meanwhile, cement giant LafargeHolcim has moved higher after saying its executive committee will be reduced to 9 members. The company said the 30 largest country organizations will directly report to the Executive Committee and the global business functions will be merged under one leadership.
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| Asia | | USDCAD | USDEUR | USDGBP | USDJPY | | | | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | |
Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, with uncertainty about the outlook for the Republican tax reform plan weighing on investor sentiment.
Regional economic data did help a few markets early on in the session, but the mood turned cautious as the day progressed.
Despite the country's Tankan survey showing an improvement in business confidence, the Japanese market ended lower, extending losses to a fourth consecutive session, with stocks from banking and insurance sectors posting notable losses. The Nikkei 225 Index ended down 141.23 points or 0.6 percent, at 22,553.22.
Among the prominent losers, KDDI Corp. declined 6.6 percent. Rakuten Inc., Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, NTT Docomo, Tokyo Gas and Tosoh Corp. shed 4 to 5.5 percent.
Nippon Yusen, Credit Saison, Sumitomo Corp., Softbank Corp., Sojitz and Resona Holdings also declined sharply.
Meanwhile, Tokai Carbon turned in a fine performance and gained about 15.3 percent. Showa Denko KK jumped nearly 12 percent.
Tokyo Dome added about 5 percent. Pioneer Corp., Comsys Holdings, Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Sumco Corp., Dainippon Screen Manufacturing, Yaskawa Electric Corp., Nippon Light Metal Holdings, Tokyo Electron and NEC also posted strong gains.
The closely watched Tankan survey from Bank of Japan showed that confidence among large Japanese manufacturers increased for the fifth straight quarter to an 11-year high at the end of 2017, as strong exports and rising corporate profits underpinned activity.
The large manufacturers' sentiment index rose to 25 from 22 a quarter ago, according to the quarterly Tankan survey from Bank of Japan. This was the highest score since the end of 2006. At the same time, the large non-manufacturers' sentiment indicator held steady at 23 in the fourth quarter.
However, both big manufactures and non-manufacturers forecast conditions to weaken in the next quarter. The outlook index among manufacturers came in at 19 and that in non-manufacturing at 20.
The Australian market recovered after a flat start, but failed to hold gains and eventually ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index declined 14.30 points or 0.2 percent to 5,997.00. The broader All Ordinaries Index ended down 9.30 points or 0.2 percent at 6087.10.
HT&E declined more than 7 percent. Retail Food Group ended 4.6 percent down. Macquarie Atlas Roads, Flexigroup, Fairfax Media, JB Hi-Fi, Sigma Pharma, Alumina, Sirtex Medical, CSR and Whitehaven Coal ended lower by 2 to 4 percent.
Bank of Queensland, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Bank all closed in the red, losing 0.6 to 1 percent.
Among the gainers, Transurban Group added 4.8 percent and Mayne Pharma advanced nearly 4 percent. Crown, Oz Minerals, Rea Group and Altium gained 3 to 3.3 percent. Mineral Resources, Healthscope, Seven West Medi, Saracen Mineral Holdings, Webjet and Caltex Australia also rose sharply.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan ended lower, with their benchmark indices losing between 0.4 and 0.9 percent.
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| Commodities |
Crude oil futures are rising $0.29 to $57.33 a barrel after climbing $0.44 to $57.04 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after advancing $8.50 to $1,257.10 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are increasing $6.20 to $1,263.30 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 112.20 yen compared to the 112.39 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1799 compared to yesterday?s $1.1778.
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