Assets to Watch for today: European Session: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/JPY, GOLD, Oil U.S Session: DOW, S&P 500, NASDAQ, Apple European Markets looking forward to FOMC policy meeting Investors and traders in Europe and Asia are looking ahead to the Federal Open Market Committees two-day policy-setting meeting in the U.S. which begins today for clues as to when the central bank will start to taper its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program. Asian markets widened their pace of losses on Tuesday following a mixed batch of earnings reports and amid investor caution before the Fed meeting. The Fed last met in September and surprised markets with its decision not to taper its bond-buying program. Recent lacklustre data from the U.S. and the political impasse over the countrys budget has reinforced the general opinion among economists that the Fed will not taper imminently. After a string of three weekly gains, European stock markets closed lower on Monday which is primarily due to some profit-taking after we’ve been near the best levels in nearly six years for global markets. There’s waning of risk appetite with investors showing trepidation before the Fed meeting later this week. However the current momentum within global markets could rally stocks another 10 percent according markets expectations. More broadly, investors were waiting for more signals from the U.S. about when the Federal Reserve could begin tapering its monthly bond purchases before placing any bigger positions. As mentioned the Federal Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and most analysts expect no changes to interest rates or the quantitative-easing program. The weak trend in job growth over the past three months coupled with what appears to be a general loss of momentum in economic activity recently has shifted many expectations for the start of tapering to early next year, most likely at the March meeting. S&P 500 up for 8th day in 9; Apple Profits Drop again U.S. indices posted a narrowly mixed finish in choppy trading Monday, with the S&P 500 setting a record high for a second straight session after an industrial-production reading beat expectations but a pending-home-sales gauge missed forecasts. Stocks have been supported somewhat by better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but the primary driver is still the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program which is predicted to be with us until at least through March. There is currently some scepticism over upcoming economic data as the U.S. government shutdown has led to many delayed economic reports. Meanwhile Optimism over corporate earnings and the fact that there’s no end in sight to the lax monetary policy of the Fed have combined to leave equity traders on the front foot as the new week gets under way. With a hectic week of economic and corporate data from the U.S. on the cards, there’s going to be no shortage of drivers to provide some meaningful direction. Apple’s shares fell nearly 3% in after-hours action. After the bell, the company said earnings fell 8.5% in the fiscal fourth quarter but came in higher than Wall Street expected. The company said it shipped 33.8 million iPhone units during the period. Apple Inc. reported its third consecutive quarter of earnings declines after the U.S. closing bell yesterday, though a pop in iPhone sales with the launch of new devices helped revenues come in higher than Wall Street had expected for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter. Apple’s shares have been on a run, jumping more than 25% in the last three months and closing Monday’s regular session up 0.7% to $529.88. For the period ended Sept. 28, Apple said net income totalled $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per share, compared with net income of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, for the same period last year. Revenue grew 4% to $37.5 billion. Gross margin came in at 37% for the period. Analysts were expecting earnings of $7.92 per share with revenue of $36.8 billion for the period, according to consensus estimates from FactSet.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:55:40 +0000
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