FYI: U.S. stock index futures continued to surge Friday morning after two influential Federal Reserve officials hinted at more aggressive policy easing from the central bank.
Future contracts for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading around 0.3% and 0.4% higher respectively.
Global stocks rose in early trade Friday as investors welcomed comments from a Federal Reserve official that seemed to strengthen the case for an interest-rate cut.
Food-and-beverage and oil-and-gas companies supported the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 index, which rose 0.5% to reverse a two-day losing streak.
In Asia, most indexes were trading higher ahead of the closing bell. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose more than 1%, buoyed by consumer-goods companies, which have been performing well since data released earlier this week showed a sharp rise in Chinese retail sales.
Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev SA was among Europe’s biggest gainers, rising nearly 5% after the Budweiser maker agreed to sell its Australian subsidiary to Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. in an $11.3 billion deal and kept the door open to a potential listing of its Asian business.
Meanwhile, France’s Publicis Groupe SA dropped more than 8% after the advertising giant cut its outlook, prompting a downgrade from analysts at Liberum.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose nearly 1.4% as tensions after President Trump said the U.S. Navy downed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, shortly after Iranian forces seized a foreign tanker, further inflaming tensions in the region.
Later today, investors will be watching for University of Michigan consumer confidence data for July.
Regards,
Ted
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-gain-on-hopes-for-rate-cut-11563523090Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-18/stocks-to-rise-in-asia-as-fed-cut-bets-lift-markets-wrapIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-stock-market-rally-boeing-737-max-microsoft-earnings-crowdstrike-skechers/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/us-stocks-dow-futures-aggressive-easing-fed.htmlReuters:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-trump/trump-wants-weaker-dollar-but-it-could-be-a-hard-sell-idUKKCN1UD1I6U.K.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/fed-rate-cut-hopes-power-ftse-100-buyout-spurs-acacia-idUKKCN1UE0NREurope:
https://www.reuters.com/article/europe-stocks/update-1-fed-signals-buoy-european-shares-ab-inbev-jumps-idUSL4N24K1QIAsia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-gain-on-fresh-hopes-of-rate-cut-by-fed-2019-07-18/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/us-bonds-traders-consider-a-fed-rate-cut.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/forex-markets-dollar-federal-reserve-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/oil-markets-us-iran-relations-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/gold-markets-fed-interest-rates-middle-east-in-focus.htmlCuirrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx
