Alpari UK
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US Opening Call from Alpari UK on 11 April 2014
US futures treading water following Thursday’s losses
* US futures treading water following Thursday’s significant losses;
* UoM consumer confidence number key today;
* JP Morgan and Wells Fargo kick off earnings season for the banks.
US futures are treading water on Friday, a day after all three major indices made quite significant losses as investors embarked on another wave of growth stock selling. Ahead of the open, the S&P is seen unchanged at 1,833, the Dow up 4 points at 16,174and the Nasdaq down 8 points at 3,479.
Over in Europe, indices are trading deep in negative territory, tracking yesterday’s move in the US session. There’s a lot of pessimism in the markets right now driven largely by the disappointing data of recent months, the potential for another flare up in the Ukraine, the Fed’s decision to continue scaling back its asset purchases and the low expectations as we head into earnings season. The severe lack of anything positive for investors to latch onto is also not helping matters.
There’s been a lack of significant data releases this week, with the most important economic event being the release of the FOMC minutes on Wednesday. Today’s preliminary reading of the UoM consumer confidence figure could give traders something to be a little more optimistic about. Traders appear to be more concerned with the forward looking data at the moment, probably because the backward looking numbers are distorted by the unusually poor winter weather making them difficult to analyse. With that in mind, this consumer confidence figure could be one of the most important economic releases at the moment as the consumer is so important to the US economy. Any sign that consumer activity is picking up is very encouraging following such a difficult few months. We’re expecting a slight improvement in confidence today, with the number rising to 81 from 80 in March.
Aside from this the focus will be on first quarter earnings figures, as it will be for the next month or so, with investors looking to these results for evidence that the economy can continue to grow without the additional support of the Fed. Unlike in previous quarters, I doubt investors will be willing to accepts mediocre results, with companies barely beating their own lowered earnings expectations and missing on revenues. Investors may well put additional focus on revenues in this quarter for signs that the earnings growth seen in previous quarters is sustainable. There’s only so many times a company can cut costs to support the bottom line and these methods may begin to wear a little thin with investors this year.
US futures treading water following Thursday’s losses
* US futures treading water following Thursday’s significant losses;
* UoM consumer confidence number key today;
* JP Morgan and Wells Fargo kick off earnings season for the banks.
US futures are treading water on Friday, a day after all three major indices made quite significant losses as investors embarked on another wave of growth stock selling. Ahead of the open, the S&P is seen unchanged at 1,833, the Dow up 4 points at 16,174and the Nasdaq down 8 points at 3,479.
Over in Europe, indices are trading deep in negative territory, tracking yesterday’s move in the US session. There’s a lot of pessimism in the markets right now driven largely by the disappointing data of recent months, the potential for another flare up in the Ukraine, the Fed’s decision to continue scaling back its asset purchases and the low expectations as we head into earnings season. The severe lack of anything positive for investors to latch onto is also not helping matters.
There’s been a lack of significant data releases this week, with the most important economic event being the release of the FOMC minutes on Wednesday. Today’s preliminary reading of the UoM consumer confidence figure could give traders something to be a little more optimistic about. Traders appear to be more concerned with the forward looking data at the moment, probably because the backward looking numbers are distorted by the unusually poor winter weather making them difficult to analyse. With that in mind, this consumer confidence figure could be one of the most important economic releases at the moment as the consumer is so important to the US economy. Any sign that consumer activity is picking up is very encouraging following such a difficult few months. We’re expecting a slight improvement in confidence today, with the number rising to 81 from 80 in March.
Aside from this the focus will be on first quarter earnings figures, as it will be for the next month or so, with investors looking to these results for evidence that the economy can continue to grow without the additional support of the Fed. Unlike in previous quarters, I doubt investors will be willing to accepts mediocre results, with companies barely beating their own lowered earnings expectations and missing on revenues. Investors may well put additional focus on revenues in this quarter for signs that the earnings growth seen in previous quarters is sustainable. There’s only so many times a company can cut costs to support the bottom line and these methods may begin to wear a little thin with investors this year.