A cut in the reserve ratio requirement at major Chinese banks is prompting a higher open for US markets on optimism that the measures will free up capital for lending and help reignite growth in China.
It might be advisable to exercise some caution over any opening rally; the 250 point fall on Friday won’t be easily forgotten and could lead to some selling pressure as we get towards 18K in the Dow Jones.
Rule changes by the Chinese regulator and Greek default worries that initiated the sell-off on Friday shouldn’t really be long term issues for US markets. The bigger issue is that the strong dollar that led to General Electric (NYSE:GE) missing revenue expectations could become a wider trend. IBM (NYSE:IBM) is the next conglomerate with significant international business to report earnings after the close on Monday.
Despite being the single biggest drag on US corporate earnings growth, the energy sector was the best performing last week, as crude oil broke above its 2015 trading range. Energy sector earnings expectations are now very low, so stocks in the sector could benefit by beating those lowered expectations.
Futures suggest the:
S&P 500 will open 12 points higher at 2,093 with the
Dow Jones expected to open 117 points higher at 17,943 and the
Nasdaq 100 23 points higher at 4,374.
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