Good morning,
While you were sleeping, comedian Jon Stewart conducted an exit interview with President Obama, who defended the Iran nuke deal and blamed Congress and I.R.S. employees who behaved “stupidly” for scandal at the nation’s tax-collecting agency. (Watch it here.) Meanwhile, disappointing earnings from IBM, Apple, and United Technologies cast a pall on overseas markets. The Nikkei Average clipped its winning streak today as it closed down 1%. Europe is down about half a percent. Chinese shares meanwhile had a pretty volatile day, ending with the SHCOMP up 0.2%, Shenzhen up 1%, and the CSI 300 dropping 0.2%. Hong Kong shares received a battering again as the Hang Seng Index dropped 1.1% to close at 25,254.97.
Here’s what else you should know:
Existing home sales and oil inventories reports. Home sales are expected to surpass May at 5.4 million, bringing yet another 5-year high. Quartz
Are you nervous after Tuesday’s barrage of bad news on the earnings front? We sure are. Up on the chopping block today: Qualcomm, Coca Cola, Boeing, American Express, Abbott Laboratories.
China’s mainland business confidence drops to its lowest level in six years. Proving that the market rout didn’t just devastate its participants, the MNI China Business Sentiment gauge fell to 48.8 this month from a 53.3 reading the month before – the lowest the indicator has been since January 2009. SCMP (paywall)
Fund managers still have the hots for Japan. Despite the Nikkei’s 18% climb this year, fund managers are still looking to the island-nation for opportunities. With all the steps corporate Japan is taking, I highly doubt the foreign investor influx will end any time soon. WSJ (paywall)
Currency traders eye BoE minutes. Eager to catch any hints of an early rate hike, currency traders worldwide are on high alert for the Bank of England’s minutes coming out later today. Bloomberg
Blackstone ruined Mother’s day for dozens of bankers. This is hilarious. Blackstone apparently shot an email to some bankers on Mother’s day inviting them to pitch prices for a block trade of Hilton stock, and not only did they have to face the ire of their families, the deal winners ended up holding the bag as Hilton shares toppled the next day. The stock hasn’t recovered since. Bloomberg
Passings: E.L. Doctorow, novelist, age 84,
Photo credit: Cliff via Flickr