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Equity
Wall Street futures mixed early Thursday as traders continue to weigh on the flow of U.S. corporate earnings. Major European markets fell following the European Central Bank’s first rate hike in more than a decade. TSX futures were slightly weaker along with lower crude oil prices.
As the US opening approached, Nasdaq futures won, while S&P futures were above the break-even point. Dow futures were slightly lower. On Wednesday, all three made gains during the day, and the Nasdaq finished 1.58 percent. The S & P / TSX composite index closed 0.44 percent helped by earnings from technology stocks.
“The general lack of fireworks in earnings means boredom is beautiful,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management.
“And while talks about the supply chain and inflation are improving, there is still a strong wind against consumer-driven gains.”
Shares of Tesla Inc. they rose about 3 percent in pre-market trading after the electric car maker reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit drop, exceeding market forecasts. The company posted an adjusted profit of US $ 2.27 per share for the second quarter ending June compared to analysts ’consensus estimates of US $ 1.81.
“Like Netflix, Tesla’s results were worse than the previous quarter,” said Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
“The company announced the first sequential drop in profits since late 2020, but revealed that it achieved the highest vehicle production in its history despite the shutdown of the Shanghai megafactory due to COVID restrictions and kept its annual production growth target unchanged at 50 percent. “
Elsewhere, United Airlines saw its shares fall about 7 percent in pre-market share after the U.S. airline reported its first quarterly earnings since the start of the pandemic, but it also fell short of market forecasts. The company reported an adjusted profit of US $ 1.43 per share in the most recent quarter. According to Refinitiv, analysts had been looking for adjusted earnings per share of US $ 1.95.
U.S. airlines that reported Thursday include American Airlines and AT&T.
In Canada, Brent Jang of The Globe reports that West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has at least $ 706 million in timber tax deposits in the United States, which would be a valuable bonus for a potential suitor. Vancouver-based West Fraser has been paying U.S. royalties on its timber shipments south of the border for the past five years in the latest round of the softwood lumber trade dispute between Canada and the United States.
Abroad, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.02% at noon. The ECB raised its deposit rate by 50 zero basis. It was the central bank’s first increase in 11 years.
The British FTSE 100 fell 0.41%. The German DAX lost 0.54 percent, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.24 percent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished 0.44 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.51 percent.
Goods
Crude oil prices fell for a second session after rising U.S. gasoline stocks fueled concerns about demand.
The daily range in Brent is US $ 102.70 to US $ 106.78. The range at West Texas Intermediate is $ 95.57 to $ 99.99.
This week’s figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed U.S. gas inventories rose 3.5 million barrels last week, more than analysts had predicted.
“Oil is trading highs between sessions on the back of the EIA’s weekly report which shows higher gasoline inventories and is usually read as an indicator of lower consumer demand,” Stephen Innes said. of SPI Asset Management.
“And even more so in the context of a seasonal counter-trend. Demand for gasoline is usually quite strong during the mid-summer months in the United States. “
Meanwhile, Russia resumed shipping natural gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline after a 10-day maintenance outage. Markets were worried that Moscow might delay the resumption of shipments as a tactic in the Ukrainian war.
On Thursday, flows returned to 40 percent of pipeline capacity, similar to the level seen before the maintenance shutdown, according to Reuters.
In other commodities, gold prices fell as markets anticipate further rate hikes by the world’s central banks as they seek to fight high inflation.
Cash gold fell 0.2% to $ 1,62.80 per ounce early Thursday, after falling to its lowest since early August 2021 at $ 1,689.40 at the start of the session.
U.S. gold futures fell 0.6% to $ 1,689.50 an ounce.
Coins
The Canadian dollar weakened as sentiment risked retreated and crude oil prices fell.
The loonie’s day range is 77.37 US cents to 77.77 US cents.
There were no major Canadian economic announcements on Thursday’s calendar.
In world markets, the euro initially fell early on Thursday, weighed down by political uncertainty in Italy. However, it gained against the US dollar after the ECB rate decision. The euro was trading at 1.025 US shortly after the announcement of ECB policy.
The Associated Press reports that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigned on Thursday after the coalition’s main allies boycotted a vote of confidence, indicating the likelihood of early elections.
The US dollar rose to 138,575 yen, consolidating below the 24-year high at 139.38 seen a week ago, after the Bank of Japan maintained its very easy monetary policy stance.
According to Reuters figures, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar reversed course and fell 0.2% to $ 0.6875, while the New Zealand dollar fell the same 0.5% to 0.6201 dollars.
More company news
Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday it would buy One Medical for $ 3.84 billion in a fully cash deal.
American Airlines Group Inc posted its first adjusted quarterly profit since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a boom in travel demand offset more than higher costs. Rising coronavirus restrictions and the demand for bottled travel have led to the strongest summer for U.S. carriers in three years, setting them up for a profitable quarter despite a higher fuel bill. American Airlines reported an adjusted profit of $ 533 million, or $ 0.76 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a loss of $ 1.09 million, or $ 1.69 per share. action, a year earlier.
AT&T Inc. Thursday boosted its annual revenue growth forecast in its wireless services business with solid subscriber additions as more people travel during the summer and use the company’s roaming services. AT&T has focused on making its 5G and fiber Internet services widely available and has doubled promotional activities to gain subscribers. The company added 813,000 new net monthly bills from wireless subscribers in the second quarter, benefiting from the expansion of its 5G network, compared to the 691,000 additions in the first quarter.
Microsoft Corp.‘s MS Teams was a backup for most users, the company said Thursday, after an interruption of hours that disrupted the chat app for tens of thousands of customers worldwide . The company cited an outage in a recent software update that “contained a broken connection to an internal storage service.” “We are addressing any residual impact related to this event. In addition, we are monitoring any signs of failure until we are sure that all functions of the service are fully recovered,” the company said on its website.
Economic news
ECB monetary policy meeting
(830 am ET) Initial unemployment claims in the U.S. last week.
(830 am ET) US Philadelphia Fed Index.
(10:00 ET) US leading indicator.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press