Stock markets in Europe are still under pressure because of the heightened tensions surrounding North Korea. Traders are on red alert as the mention of war has sent them running for cover. In tense situation like this, equity markets are move lower exceptionally fast, and investors don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of the markets, so they are getting out now. Traders would require nerves of steel to starting buying into the stock market now, given standoff between the US and North Korea.
The FTSE 100 is underperforming the DAX and CAC 40 because of several companies that are in the British index are paying dividends.
Glencore (LON:GLEN) announced first-half earnings per share (EPS) of $0.17, and that was an improvement on last year’s loss of $0.03. The company raised the profit guidance for its trading division by $100 million to a range of $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion. The natural resources company has greatly improved its debt to equity ratio in the past couple of years, as the asset stripping and programme is going well. The improved liquidity position will make it more attractive for investors. Despite the decent set of numbers for the first-six months, their share are down 1.5% on the day.
The GBP/USD pushed higher after the UK released industrial production numbers which topped estimates. In June, industrial production jumped by 0.5% and 0.3% on a month-on-month basis and on a year-on-year basis respectively. Exports in the same month dropped, that is why the trade balance deficit widened to £12.72 billion.
We are anticipating the Dow Jones to open 48 points lower at 22,000 and we are calling the S&P 500 down 9 at 2465.
At 1.30pm, the US will announce the jobless claims report, and economists are expecting it to remain steady at 240,000.
Federal Reserve member William Dudley is due to speak at 3pm in New York. Mr Dudley is known for is hawkish views, so we could see some volatility in the US dollar.
Snap (NYSE:SNAP) will report their second-quarter numbers later today.
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