NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The futures on the major US stock indices were slightly in the red on Tuesday before the market. After the strong recovery at the beginning of the week, restraint dominates again after business figures from some important US companies contained light and shadow.
In addition, the Middle East war remains a central issue. According to market observers, there is currently still confidence that the diplomatic efforts to find a solution will bear fruit. The fact that US President Joe Biden wants to visit Israel and neighboring countries in the coming days will help calm things down. However, Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management points out that the announced Israeli ground offensive in Gaza has not yet begun. If this actually takes place, the mood on the stock exchanges could quickly change again.
On the economic side, the highly noticed US retail sales surprised positively with an unexpectedly significant increase in September. This indicates that US consumers continue to enjoy spending. Private consumption accounts for around two thirds of US economic output.
In addition, September data on industrial production and August data on inventories will be on the agenda later.
Meanwhile, the balance sheet season is entering a new round. The focus is particularly on the figures from the banks Goldman Sachs, Bank of America (BoA) and Bank of New York Mellon. After the convincing figures from JP Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Friday, the positive picture is beginning to crack. BoA (pre-market +1.6%) and Bank of New York Mellon (+1.3%) earned more than expected, but Goldman’s profit (+0.2%) shrank surprisingly significantly.
Meanwhile, things are looking good for the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (+0.6%), which has increased its forecast after a good quarter. The defense company Lockheed Martin (-1.1%) exceeded market expectations with its quarterly profit and confirmed its outlook, but observers complain that three of the four business areas recorded lower margins.
Oil prices are trending slightly higher. Players on the oil market are also nervously following developments in the war between Israel and Hamas. There are fears in the market that the war could spread to other countries in the region, including important oil exporters such as Iran, and that this could result in a supply shortage.
Yields on the bond market are rising again, which market participants attribute to investors’ declining interest in “safe havens”. For the same reason, the dollar is also weakening slightly; the dollar index fell by 0.1 percent.
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US bonds
Maturity Yield Bp to VT Yield VT +/-Bp YTD
2 years 5.14 +3.9 5.11 72.4
5 years 4.79 +7.6 4.72 79.5
7 years 4.83 +9.7 4.73 85.9
10 years 4.81 +9.7 4.71 92.7
30 years 4.96 +10.4 4.85 98.6
FOREX last +/- % Tue, 8:21 am Mon, 5:25 pm % YTD
EUR/USD 1.0546 -0.1% 1.0540 1.0545 -1.5%
EUR/JPY 157.97 +0.1% 157.68 157.75 +12.6%
EUR/CHF 0.9516 +0.1% 0.9499 0.9502 -3.9%
EUR/GBP 0.8688 +0.5% 0.8648 0.8648 -1.8%
USD/JPY 149.74 +0.1% 149.61 149.59 +14.2%
GBP/USD 1.2140 -0.6% 1.2187 1.2195 +0.4%
USD/CNH (Offshore) 7.3287 +0.2% 7.3185 7.3106 +5.8%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 28,385.69 -0.2% 28,160.06 28,058.15 +71.0%
ROHOEL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 86.72 86.66 +0.1% +0.06 +11.5%
Brent/ICE 90.00 89.65 +0.4% +0.35 +10.1%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (spot) 1,920.30 1,919.94 +0.0% +0.36 +5.3%
Silver (spot) 22.62 22.65 -0.1% -0.03 -5.6%
Platinum (spot) 899.54 895.50 +0.5% +4.04 -15.8%
Copper future 3.55 3.58 -0.8% -0.03 -6.8%
YTD based on the previous day’s closing level
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DJG/DJN/cln/uxd
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 17, 2023 08:43 ET (12:43 GMT)