Good morning,
U.S. futures are looking to end a three-week losing streak with a gain so far of 2.3%. Look for strong action in the tech sector in the wake of better than expected 2Q results from Google. On board today: Consumer prices for June and housing prices. GE reports second quarter earnings.
European stocks take a breather in best weekly performance since January. The Stoxx Europe 600 is up 4.3% for the week, and has surged 8.8% since the low hit on July 7 — a performance mirroring the ups and downs of the Greek and Chinese crises. Bloomberg.
Asian stocks roar ahead. On the back of reports saying that Beijing has just pledged over $480 billion to support the market, the Shenzhen Composite posted its best rally in three years, ending the day up 5%. The Shanghai Index also soared 3.5% – a second-straight gain for the composite – while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index didn’t do too bad either, ending the session up 1%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 meanwhile continued its five-day blitz, ending the week up 4.4%.
President Obama meets with Saudi Arabia’s foreign mininster, Adel al-Jubeir. It’s the first meeting the president is having with a high-level Arab official since inking the nuclear deal with Iran. Saudi Arabia has criticized the pact along with other Arab countries and Israel. New York Times (paywall)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney sends the pound soaring. In a statement that sent the British pound higher, BoE Governor Mark Carney hinted at an earlier than expected rate hike, saying that “(t)he decision as to when to start such a process of adjustment will likely come into sharper relief around the turn of this year,” adding “The need for bank rate to rise reflects the momentum in the economy and a gradual firming of underlying inflationary pressures.” Bloomberg (video)
German regulators slam Deutsche Bank. In a confidential report seen by the WSJ, German regulators slammed Deutsche Bank executives for “failing to stop or tell regulators about years of attempted market manipulation.” Anshu Jain, the German bank’s former co-CEO, apparently got the worst of it. WSJ (paywall)
Police are still trying to figure out why a 24-year-old man would shoot up two military centers. Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez went to a recruiting center and a Naval Reserve Center in Chatanooga, Tenn., and killed four marines and wounded three others before getting killed. Abdulazeez had been born in Kuwait and was a naturalized citizen. He had never been under scrutiny for terrorist activities; his father had at some point in time been reportedly on a terrorist watch list but was later removed, according to unnamed sources. Reuters
Samsung claims victory in a merger battle that had turned ugly. The South Korean press had made anti-Semitic slurs against Paul Singer, whose hedge fund Elliott Management had opposed the deal. Samsung C&T shareholders approved a merger with Cheil Industries, solidifying Samsung’s founding family’s grip on Samsung Electronics. The vote wasn’t even close: 69.5% approved. NexChange