The week started with unpleasant news really. First, the Chinese growth numbers disappointed at yesterday’s open, and sent the metal, energy, and European stocks down. A barrel of American crude fell 1.72% and slipped below the $75pb level, and is still consolidating below this level this morning, the European nat gas prices continue trending lower following an upbeat mood at the start of the summer on expectation that the European nations refilling their reserves for winter would push prices higher. But the disappointing growth numbers and the slowing activity in Europe hammered the positive trend and the prices remained under pressure despite the recent spike in oil prices. Then, Wisdomtree’s industrial metals ETF dropped nearly 2% and Hermes slumped more than 4% below its 50-DMA and to its 100-DMA yesterday on worries that the Chinese costumers, who were the reason why the company announced juicy earnings in the past few quarters. In summary, energy and French luxury goods, and the British FTSE 100 index – full of energy and miners – didn’t react well to the news.
Then, Russia cancelled the grain deal, which allowed the safe passage of around 33 million of crops from Ukraine via Black Sea since last June and wheat futures jumped nearly 3.50% yesterday. While Russia had only half-heartedly agreed to sign a Turkish brokered deal, the latest explosion in the bridge between Russian and Crimea and the Western sanctions that are taking a toll on the Russian exports brought Russia to drop the deal, turning all eyes to Turkish President Erdogan, who said that he will meet Vladimir Putin in August, but given the urging situation he will certainly call him before. There is one thing that could displease Russians though, and it is the fact that Erdogan gave a greenlight for Sweden joining NATO just a couple of days ago. The latter could make another crop deal harder to be sealed. So, all eyes are on Turkish President Erdogan. If he can’t agree on a new deal, the Ukrainian crops must take a pricier detour to reach the international market and that extra cost could discourage farmers to keep supply steady. Lower supply could boost wheat prices and add to food price inflation worries that had just started easing.
US stocks extend rally
But it doesn’t seem to be a concern for the US equities, as despite the morose mood in Asia and Europe yesterday, the S&P500 advanced yet to another high since April 2022, as Nasdaq 100 reached levels last since at the start of last year. The US 2-year yield which consolidates near the 4.70% level on hope that the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) tightening cycle is soon over. And the 7-9% drop expected in S&P500 earnings is nothing compared to a chance that the US economy could avoid a hard landing following the Fed’s steep interest rate hikes. After all, the Fed’s balance sheet only slowly drops, as the Fed’s reverse repo operations tank, which means that the Fed is keeping the market liquidity in a sweet spot as the US Treasury general account is being refilled after the debt limit crisis. And all that liquidity continues to be supportive of stock prices, no matter how fast the Fed increases its interest rates.
Menu du Jour
Anyway, today, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Lockheed Martin will be releasing their quarterly earnings. While BoFA and Morgan Stanley’s investment branches may have taken a hit, investors will be looking at how well these banks benefited from rising rates. Lockheed Martin on the other hand will undoubtedly continue outperforming as war and geopolitical tensions only keep rising and increasing the defense budgets around the world.
On the macro calendar, the US retail sales will be in focus today, as the resilience of the US consumer spending is another headache in the Fed’s fight against inflation, and the data could not surprise to the downside. According to Bank of America’s card data, spending in June was down by 0.2% ‘but not out’ and the official numbers are expected to show a slow improvement. A better-than-expected read could fuel inflation expectations and slowdown the US dollar’s selloff but unless we see seriously strong data, any improvement will unlikely to turn the bearish winds around in the medium run.
