Benzinga Market Primer: Friday, August 2nd: Japan Surges On GDP Revision

Futures

After yesterday's rally, US Equity futures are slightly up on strong economic data from Asia. The big news of the day are the job numbers coming out at 8:30 am this morning. Friday also marks marks the end of the heaviest earnings week of the year, with over 500 companies reporting in the last two days.

Top News

In other news around the markets:

• Japan revised their 2013 and 2014 GDP forecast up from 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent. However, private consumption was revised down from 2.1 percent to 0.5 percent.


• The People's Bank of China said they will continue with monetary policy and will fight property speculation.


• Head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission talked about the need to control loans in the country and said the shadow banking industry is manageable.


• The UK PMI figure came out at 57.0 versus 51.5 expected.


• S&P 500 futures are up 0.09 percent to 1701.8.


• The EUR/USD was up 0.05 percent to 1.3213.

Asian Markets

Japan led Asia with the Nikkei index up 3.29 percent on an upward revision of the 2013 and 2014 GDP. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 0.46 percent while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.02 percent in China. Also, the Korean Kospi added 0.14 percent.

European Markets

European markets were mostly flat after yesterday's massive gains. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.28 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index declined 0.06 percent. Similarly, the German DAX picked up 0.16 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose 0.29 percent.

Commodities

Commodities were mostly lower overnight with fossil fuels seeing a slight pullback after yesterday's gains. WTI Crude futures fell 0.1 percent to $107.78 per barrel and Brent Crude futures lost 0.2 percent to $109.32 per barrel. Copper futures rose 0.3 percent to $317.55 per pound. Gold and silver were down 1.84 and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Currencies

Currency markets were relatively flat overnight after yesterday's big moves on European Central Bank and Bank of England announcements.The closely followed EUR/USD pair was just 0.06 percent lower to 1.3215. The biggest move was with Japanese Yen: the USD/JPY group added 0.26 percent, and the EUR/JPY pair rose 0.29 percent.

Earnings Reported Yesterday

Key companies that reported earnings Thursday include:

• Exxon Mobil XOM reported second quarter EPS of $1.55 vs. $1.90 on revenue of $106.47 billion.


• LinkedIn LNKD reported second quarter EPS of $0.38 vs. $0.31 on revenue of $363.7 million vs. $354.04 million.


• ConocoPhillips COP reported second quarter EPS of $1.41 vs. $1.29 on expected revenue of $12.75 billion.

Pre-Market Movers

Stocks moving in the pre-market included:

• AIG AIG is up 5.16 percent to $49.50 after the company reported strong earnings.


• JC Penney JCP is up 0.69 percent with almost 300,000 shares traded. Yesterday more than 2.3 million shares exchanged hands in the premarket.

Earnings

Notable companies expected to report earnings Friday include:

• Chevron CVX is expected to report second quarter EPS of $2.98 vs. $3.56 a year ago on revenue of $56.01 billion vs. $62.61 billion a year ago.


• Eaton Corporation ETN is expected to report second quarter EPS of $1.11 vs. $1.15 a year ago on revenue of $5.77 billion vs. $4.07 billion a year ago.




• Exelis XLS is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.37 vs. $0.46 a year ago on revenue of $1.23 billion vs. $1.38 billion a year ago.

Economics

On the economics calendar, nonfarm payrolls and private non farm payrolls are the biggest announcements of the day. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to come in at 185 million versus 195 million previously. Analysts are looking for private nonfarm payrolls of 189 million versus 202 million. Other figures to look for are factory orders at 10:00 am and personal income at 8:30 am.

Good luck and good trading.

Tune into Benzinga's PreMarket Info show with Dennis Dick and Joel Elconin here.

For a recap of Thursday's market action, read Benzinga's daily market wrap here.