- Dollar, Asian Shares Drop on Biden Election Exit: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — The dollar slipped and Asian stocks fell after Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. China’s central bank cut a key short-term interest rate. A Bloomberg gauge of the US currency’s strength shed 0.1% Monday after the US president bowed to pressure from the Democrats, with the yen and the Swiss franc edging up. - Oil Rises as Biden Quits US Race, Blazes Threaten Canadian Wells
(Bloomberg) — Oil edged higher after slumping almost 3% on Friday as investors weighed the fallout from President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election, while wildfires menaced some production in Canada. Global benchmark Brent rose toward $83 a barrel after posting its biggest one-day drop since early June, while West Texas Intermediate was near $81. - Downshifting US Inflation Will Help Reassure the Fed: Eco Week
(Bloomberg) — The runway toward a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut will come more into focus in the coming week amid fresh signs inflation is abating and economic activity is simmering down. Economists expect the personal consumption expenditures price index minus food and energy due on Friday to have risen 0.1% in June for a second straight month. - China’s Central Bank Cuts Key Short-Term Rate to Buoy Economy
(Bloomberg) — The People’s Bank of China cut a key short-term policy rate for the first time in almost a year as it steps up support for growth while shifting toward a new policy benchmark. The seven-day reverse repo rate is lowered by 10 basis points to 1.7%, the PBOC said in a statement Monday. - Gold slips from all-time peak on profit taking, firmer dollar
Gold prices dipped more than 2% on Friday, as the dollar gained and profit taking kicked in following bullion’s all-time peak hit earlier this week, which was fuelled by rising expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts in September. Spot gold was down 1.9% at $2,399.27 per ounce by 1758 GMT. Bullion hit an all-time high of $2,483.60 on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures settled 2.3% lower to $2,399.10. - High Returns Lure Wealthy Investors to Fund Coal as Banks Exit
(Bloomberg) — Wealthy Australians, in search of attractive investment returns, are emerging as an important pool of capital for financing coal projects shunned by banks due to environmental, social and governance concerns. Income Asset Management Group Ltd. is one fund manager targeting the well-off in Australia to provide private loans to coal and other mining companies. - NY Fed’s Recession Gauge Says Oil’s Decisive Moment Months Away
(Bloomberg Intelligence) — The New York Fed’s recession gauge suggests the risk of economic contraction may persist over in the next 12 months, with commensurately greater pressure on global commodity demand. Hedge funds may slash oil bets as they clench their teeth over rising US unemployment and China’s deepening deflation. - Woodside to Buy US LNG Developer Tellurian for $900 Million
(Bloomberg) — Woodside Energy Group Ltd. has agreed to buy US liquefied natural gas export project developer Tellurian Inc. for about $900 million. Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer will make an all-cash payment of about $1 a share for all of Tellurian’s stock, including its owned and operated US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG project, it said Monday. - Bitcoin Climbs to More Than One-Month High as Biden Bows Out
(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin edged up to the highest level in over a month as traders evaluated the implications of US President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his re-election bid. The largest digital asset recovered from earlier losses to hover around $68,300 as of 8:42 a.m. in Singapore on Monday as markets reacted to the possibility of a match-up between pro-crypto Donald Trump. - Biden Exits Race, Endorses Harris as She Shores Up Support
(Bloomberg) — US President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid, bowing to relentless pressure from Democrats to drop out over fears he was too feeble to beat Donald Trump and injecting fresh chaos into the 2024 election. Biden, 81, said he would serve out his term but endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, to take his place as the Democratic nominee. - Traders Game Plan What Biden’s Exit Spells for Global Markets
(Bloomberg) — Markets already had plenty to deal with as summer kicks into full gear, from assessing the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path to the heart of earnings season. But 2024’s presidential race keeps crowding into the headlines. A week after an assassination attempt on Republican Donald Trump. - Secret Service Head Faces Lawmaker Grilling on Trump Attack
(Bloomberg) — The US Secret Service’s embattled leader is about to field a barrage of questions from hostile lawmakers who want her out of a job after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to appear Monday at a congressional hearing that will examine how the shooter eluded security and wounded Trump. - Harris Says She’s Running for President After Biden Exits Race
(Bloomberg) — US Vice President Kamala Harris launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination following Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 race, seizing the endorsement of her boss to quickly become the party’s frontrunner. “I am honoured to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement on Sunday. - CrowdStrike shares plunged 11.10% after the company pushed out a flawed update that caused Microsoft Windows computer systems to crash on Friday.
This affected many services across the world, including airports, banks, stock exchanges and businesses. Microsoft and CrowdStrike have since rolled out fixes, and systems were being restored. However, it is expected to take some time to completely recover from the disruptions. - American Express shares dropped by 2.74%, after it reported its second quarter financial results.
Revenue came in at $16.30 billion, while estimates were at $16.60 billion. Notably, its “discount revenue”, which refers to fees charged to merchants which accept its cards, was at $8.86 billion; which were below its estimates of $8.94 billion. - S&P 500 futures tick higher Sunday night after worst week since April
S&P 500 futures inched up Sunday night after the broad market index suffered its worst weekly losses since April last week as investors rotated out of mega cap technology stocks for smaller names. Futures tied to the broad market index gained 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. - Pelosi spoke to Biden before he dropped out of 2024 presidential race
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke with President Joe Biden before he dropped out. Pelosi told Biden how his debate performance in June versus Donald Trump hurt his legacy. Biden announced Sunday on social media that he was dropping out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris. - Electric-vehicle stocks were broadly lower Friday after Donald Trump vowed to repeal what he calls
President Joe Biden’s EV “mandate” on his first day in office during his address at the Republican
National Convention.
Tesla, which will report 2Q results next week, fell 4%. “I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day
one,” Trump said in his address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The move would
result in “saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now, and
saving US customers thousands and thousands of dollars per car,” he said. Trump has repeatedly vowed to repeal what he calls Biden’s “EV mandate,” referring to a new EPA regulation limiting tailpipe pollution that is so strict it would compel automakers to sell far more electric and hybrid models over time. - Intuitive Surgical shares jumped 9.3%, reaching the highest level on record, after the company’s
second-quarter adjusted earnings per share came ahead of consensus estimates.
SECOND QUARTER RESULTS: Adjusted EPS $1.78, estimate $1.54. Revenue $2.01 billion, +14% y/y,
estimate $1.97 billion. Worldwide procedure growth +17% vs. +22% y/y, estimate +15.5%. Surgical
system placements 341, +3% y/y, estimate 288.04. Da Vinci Surgical System installed base 9,203
systems, +14% y/y, estimate 9,165. Piper Sandler (overweight): Analyst Adam Maeder says revenue,
procedure growth and adj. EPS all beat consensus expectations. The “bright spots” for the quarter were
Da Vinci 5 placements coming “well ahead” of consensus and the company posting “impressive leverage in the quarter behind the top-line strength, healthy gross margins and cost discipline”. PT raised to $495 from $490. - A faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected 8.5 million devices globally that rely on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Microsoft gave the full scope of the worldwide IT outage for the first time in a blog post on Saturday, saying those affected represented fewer than 1% of all devices that use Windows. “While the percentage was small,” the company said, there were “broad economic and societal impacts.” In what will go down as the most catastrophic IT failure the world has ever seen, the CrowdStrike update crashed the systems of businesses and governments globally, paralyzing their operations for hours. Emergency response lines went down. Thousands of flights were delayed and canceled. Hospitals were forced to delay procedures, and trading across markets slowed. CrowdStrike shares fell 11.1% whilst shares of Microsoft moved 0.7% lower. CrowdStrike rivals, Sentinel One and Palo Alto Networks gained 7.8% and 2.2%, respectively. - SLB gained 1.9% after the oil-field services provider’s earnings per share for the second quarter beat the average estimate.
SECOND QUARTER RESULTS: Adjusted EPS 85c vs. 72c y/y, estimate 83c. Revenue $9.14 billion, +13% y/y, estimate $9.07 billion. Adjusted Ebitda $2.29 billion, +17% y/y, estimate $2.22 billion. Cash flow from operations $1.44 billion, -11% y/y, estimate $1.19 billion. Capital expenditure $463 million, -1.7% y/y, estimate $501 million. Free cash flow $776 million, -21% y/y, estimate $465.5 million. Net debt $9.19 billion, +5.8% q/q, estimate $8.76 billion. YEAR FORECAST: Still sees capital investments about $2.6 billion. COMMENTARY AND CONTEXT: Board Approved Qtrly Cash Div of $0.275/Shr. On track to return $3.0B to HOLDERS in 2024. - Halliburton shares dropped 5.6% as the oil-field services company’s second-quarter revenues missed expectations, which JPMorgan said investors did not expect.
SECOND QUARTER RESULTS: Adjusted EPS 80c vs. 77c y/y, estimate 80c. Revenue $5.83 billion, +0.6% y/y, estimate $5.95 billion. Operating income $1.03 billion, +2.1% y/y, estimate $1.05 billion. Cash flow from operations $1.08 billion, +2.8% y/y, estimate $925.8 million. Capital expenditure $347.0 million, +15% y/y, estimate $357.5 million. COMMENTARY AND CONTEXT: Sees strong demand in international markets for Halliburton’s services, high activity levels, and equipment tightness across all major basins.
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