Canadian Futures are flat, as investor focus turned towards earnings reports from domestic banks against the backdrop of worries about a faster tightening in monetary policy and a potential recession. European equities fell, after data showed euro zone business activity contracted for a second consecutive month. Safe-haven flows kept the U.S. dollar firm, while the euro dropped to a fresh two-decade low on concerns that energy crisis will keep inflation elevated. Gold prices were slightly higher in a choppy trade. Oil prices climbed after Saudi Arabia warned that OPEC+ has options including output cuts to support prices.
ECONOMIC EVENTS
None on tap.
COMPANIES REPORTING
August 23:
Bank of Nova Scotia: Expected Q3 earnings of C$2.11 per share
August 24:
National Bank of Canada: Expected Q3 earnings of C$2.34 per share
Royal Bank of Canada: Expected Q3 earnings of C$2.66 per share
CORPORATE EVENTS (EST)
0800 Bank of Nova Scotia: Q3 earnings conference call
EX-DIVIDENDS
Lundin Gold Inc: Amount $0.20
Primo Water Corp: Amount $0.07
Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc: Amount $0.27
Sun Life Financial Inc: Amount C$0.69
U.S. futures were in the green, while Japanese shares ended lower, as investors awaited a Federal Reserve gathering later this week in Jackson Hole for cues on interest rate hikes. European equities fell, after data showed euro zone business activity contracted for a second consecutive month. Safe-haven flows kept the dollar firm, while the euro dropped to a fresh two-decade low on concerns that energy crisis will keep inflation elevated. Gold prices were slightly higher in a choppy trade. Oil prices climbed after Saudi Arabia warned that OPEC+ has options including output cuts to support prices.
U.S. Department of Labor on Monday accused a Korean-owned auto parts maker and supplier of Hyundai Motor of violating federal child labor laws at an Alabama factory, federal court filings reviewed by Reuters show.
A U.S. court upheld a tribunal’s $8.75 billion award to U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips over the expropriation of its Venezuelan oil assets, granting a default judgment in the case on Friday.
Alphabet Inc & Meta Platforms Inc: A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Monday released a revised version of a bill aimed at making it easier for news organizations to negotiate collectively with platforms like Google and Facebook. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act “removes legal obstacles to news organizations’ ability to negotiate collectively and secure fair terms from gatekeeper platforms that regularly access news content without paying for its value,” according to a news release from the lawmakers. The updated bill would cover news publishers with fewer than 1,500 full-time employees and non-network news broadcasters. It would allow them to work together to win better deals from Facebook, Google and other large platforms, according to the news release.
Apple Inc: The company plans to start making the iPhone 14 in India about two months after its release out of China, in a move that will narrow the gap from the typical six to nine months for previous launches, Bloomberg News reported. The company has been working with suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in India and the first iPhone 14s from the country are likely to be finished in late October or November, following the initial September release, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple’s Taiwan-based supplier Foxconn has studied the process of shipping items from China and assembling the iPhone 14 at its plant outside southern Indian city of Chennai, it reported. Separately, a former Apple engineer on Monday pleaded guilty to trade secret theft – one of two people accused of stealing trade secrets from the iPhone maker’s nascent self-driving car program.
BlackRock Inc: South African insurer Discovery said it was partnering with the global asset manager to launch a fund management entity, to tap in to the fast-growing multibillion-rand local discretionary fund management industry. The Discovery’s DFM entity, Cogence, will combine asset allocation strategies from BlackRock and use client data from Discovery-owned behavioral change platform Vitality to create a raft of custom products for customers, the insurer said.
ConocoPhillips: A U.S. court upheld a tribunal’s $8.75 billion award to the U.S. oil producer over the expropriation of its Venezuelan oil assets, granting a default judgment in the case on Friday. The decision gives the U.S. company new authority to collect on a 2019 award by a World Bank tribunal. The award includes interest that adds at least $1 billion to the amount owed to Conoco. Venezuela’s government rejected the court’s decision in a statement issued by the president’s office on Monday evening, saying the country would continue to take legal action to “preserve its patrimony.” “This unfair decision has been forged by violating… Venezuela’s right to defense,” the statement said.
General Electric Co: Workers at a company plant in Alabama said on Monday they have launched a campaign to form a union for better pay and job security. The plant in Auburn, Alabama, employs 179 workers. In a statement, the workers said they have submitted cards seeking to organize as part of IUE-CWA to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A spokesperson for the NLRB confirmed that the board has received the union petition. The workers said their wages are not able to keep up with rising inflation, making it harder for them to support their families. Meanwhile, the Boston-based industrial conglomerate’s planned spinoffs are creating more uncertainty for them, they said.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc: A U.S. federal judge on Monday rejected the company’s bid to dismiss most of a 12-year-old class action alleging widespread bias against women in pay and promotions, and said the case will finally go to trial next June. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan disagreed with Goldman’s argument that the class of about 1,800 plaintiffs should be decertified because there was no proof that each member had lost pay and thus had standing to seek damages. The judge narrowed the damages class to include female vice presidents and associates employed at various times since 2002 in Goldman’s investment banking, investment management and securities divisions, and exclude those not employed long enough or who did not suffer reduced compensation. Torres also refused to let Goldman appeal her March ruling allowing the plaintiffs to sue as a group because the Wall Street bank had subjected them to the same employment policies. She set a June 5, 2023 trial date.
Pfizer Inc: The company’s COVID-19 vaccine was 73.2% effective in children aged between 6 months and 4 years, the company’s data showed, two months after the U.S. rollout of the shots began for that age group. The updated data releasedshowed 13 children had COVID-19, at least seven days after receiving a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 21 cases in those who received a placebo. Most cases were caused by the Omicron BA.2 variant that was dominant in March and April, when the study was conducted. The companies also said they were preparing an application seeking U.S. authorization for an Omicron-targeting vaccine booster in children aged 6 months through 11 years of age.
Zoom Video Communications Inc: The company on Monday cut its annual profit and revenue forecasts as demand for the video-conferencing platform cools off from pandemic highs amid stiff competition from Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx. Zoom reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth on record at 8%, as people switched to in-person meetings from virtual conversations. Finance chief Kelly Steckelberg told analysts the firm’s online business was likely to decline by 7% to 8% in fiscal 2023. The company forecast annual revenue between $4.39 billion and $4.40 billion, compared with its earlier outlook of $4.53 billion to $4.55 billion. It now expects annual adjusted profit per share between $3.66 and $3.69, compared with $3.70 to $3.77 forecast earlier.
ECONOMIC EVENTS (EST)
0800 Building permits number for July: Prior 1.674 mln
0800 Building permits R change mm for July: Prior -1.3%
0945 S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Flash for Aug: Expected 52.0; Prior 52.2
0945 S&P Global Services PMI Flash for Aug: Expected 49.2; Prior 47.3
0945 S&P Global Composite PMI Flash for Aug: Prior 47.7
1000 New home sales-units for July: Expected 0.575 mln; Prior 0.590 mln
1000 New home sales change mm for July: Prior -8.1%
1000 Rich Fed Composite Index for Aug: Prior 0
1000 Rich Fed Services Index for Aug: Prior -13
1000 Rich Fed Manufacturing Shipments for Aug: Prior 7
CORPORATE EVENTS (EST)
0800 Macy’s Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
0800 Xpeng Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
0800 Kanzhun Ltd: Q2 earnings conference call
0830 Nordson Corp: Q3 earnings conference call
0900 J M Smucker Co: Q1 earnings conference call
0900 Dlocal Ltd: Q2 earnings conference call
1000 Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc: Q2 earnings conference call
1200 Microchip Technology Inc: Annual Shareholders Meeting
1630 Intuit Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
1700 Paycor HCM Inc: Q4 earnings conference call
EX-DIVIDENDS
Aflac Inc: Amount $0.40
Brunswick Corp: Amount $0.36
Viatris Inc: Amount $0.12
Warner Music Group Corp: Amount $0.16
DJIA Mini Futures: 33,098.00; up 0.13%; 42 points
Nikkei: 28,457.71; down 1.17%; 336.79 points
MSCI Asia, Ex-JP: 515.18; down 0.64%; 3.31 points
EUR/USD: $0.9943; flat
GBP/USD: $1.1773; up 0.05%; 0.0006 point
USD/JPY: 137.23 yen; down 0.19%; 0.26 point
Spot Gold: $1,737.81; up 0.12%; $2.11
U.S. Crude: $91.17; up 0.90%; $0.81
Brent Crude: $97.23; up 0.78%; $0.75
10-Yr U.S. Treasury Yield: 3.0137%; down 0.02 point
10-Yr Bund Yield: 1.3015%; up 0.01 point
Asian shares were down for a sixth straight session after a renewed spike in European energy prices stoked fears of recession.
Oil rose as renewed concerns over tight supply dominated market sentiment after Saudi Arabia warned that the major oil producer could cut output to correct a recent oil price decline.
Europe faces fresh disruption to energy supplies due to damage to a pipeline system bringing oil from Kazakhstan through Russia that was reported by the pipeline operator on Monday, adding to concerns over a plunge in gas supplies.
U.K. inflation is on course to exceed 18% in January as the country’s energy price cap enters the stratosphere, Citi economists are projecting.
The euro fell to a two-decade low of 0.9903 against the U.S. dollar and strategists predict further euro depreciation in the coming months.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is bringing Canada and Germany
Alcon AG said it would acquire Aerie Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at about $753 million, as the Swiss eye-care company looks to bolster its pipeline of opthalmic treatments.
A U.S. judge on Monday rejected Ben & Jerry’s attempt to stop its parent Unilever from allowing its ice cream to be sold in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Ben & Jerry’s said undermined its values.
British Airways would make further cancellations up to the end of October and tweak its winter schedule, the airline said on Monday, following Heathrow airport’s decision to cap capacity to tackle widespread disruption.
JD.com Inc, beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue as lockdowns in China to control the spread of the coronavirus boosted online shopping and the company’s “618” shopping event. The company reported second-quarter revenue of 267.6 billion yuan, topping analysts’ average estimate of 262.31 billion yuan. JD.com said net income attributable to ordinary shareholders rose to 4.38 billion yuan, or 1.37 yuan per American Depository Share (ADS) for the three months ended June 30, from 794 million yuan, or 0.25 yuan per ADS, a year earlier.
ECONOMIC EVENTS (GMT)
0715 France S&P Global Manufacturing PMI flash for August: Expected 49.0; Prior 49.5
0715 France S&P Global Services PMI flash for August: Expected 53.0; Prior 53.2
0715 France S&P Global Composite PMI flash for August: Expected 50.8; Prior 51.7
0730 Germany S&P Global Manufacturing PMI flash for August: Expected 48.2; Prior 49.3
0730 Germany S&P Global Services PMI flash for August: Expected 49.0; Prior 49.7
0730 Germany S&P Global Composite PMI flash for August: Expected 47.4; Prior 48.1
0800 Euro Zone S&P Global Manufacturing PMI flash for August: Expected 49.0; Prior 49.8
0800 Euro Zone S&P Global Services PMI flash for August: Expected 50.5; Prior 51.2
0800 Euro Zone S&P Global Composite PMI flash for August: Expected 49.0; Prior 49.9
0830 United Kingdom Composite PMI flash for August: Expected 51.1; Prior 52.1
0830 United Kingdom Manufacturing PMI flash for August: Expected 51.1; Prior 52.1
0830 United Kingdom Services PMI flash for August: Expected 52.0; Prior 52.6
1000 United Kingdom CBI Trends – Orders for August: Expected 3; Prior 8
1400 Euro Zone Consumer Confidence flash for August: Expected -28.0; Prior -27.0
