• US stock market, economy and companies update (July 16, 2015)

    Chinese equities rebounded mildly today after two days of declines while continental European indices are seeing strong gains after the Greece parliament agreed to the new bailout plan and the ECB expanded its liquidity support for Greek banks for the first time since late June. Fed Chair Yellen will give testimony before the Senate later this afternoon. As of writing, the DJIA is up 0.19%, the S&P500 is up 0.67% and the Nasdaq is up 1.06%.

    The NAHB index of homebuilder confidence for July hit levels last seen in November 2005, at the height of the housing bubble, flat with the adjusted June level. Shares of HOV are up 1.75%, while shares of TOL and LEN are down 1% each. Volatile regional Fed surveys continue to defy expectations: today the Philly Fed's business outlook survey dropped to 5.7 for July, down sharply from the 15.2 in June (which was the highest reading since last December). This comes after the July Empire survey rose sharply from a negative June reading.

    The ECB resumed ELA hikes for Greece today, raising the facility by €900 million to total of €89.9 billion. There was little new in today's rate decision or the post-decision comments, however President Draghi made several material comments about Greece in the press conference Q&A. Draghi said it was "uncontroversial" that Greece need some form of debt relief, aligning himself with the IMF on the issue and squarely against the Germans. He added that deposit outflows from Greece reached €8.18 billion in June and that the ECB's exposure to Greece was worth €130 billion. Following the announcement of the ELA hike (Draghi also said the ECB would openly publicize ELA changes moving forward), there were reports that the Greeks would begin reopening their banks starting on Monday, July 20th. Athens is expected to be able to make debt payments to the IMF and ECB at that time. Heading into the press conference, EUR/USD hit two-week lows below 1.0860, but the pair snapped back above 1.0900 after the ELA announcement.

    Citigroup had a very strong second quarter, posting its highest profits in eight years in earnings out this morning. EPS rose to $1.51 from $0.03 a year ago, modestly topping expectations, although adjusted for legal charges earnings were right in line. Meanwhile Goldman Sachs saw its earnings slammed by legal charges worth $2.77/shr in the quarter. Revenue slipped lower y/y and its key FICC revenue dropped 28% y/y. Shares of Citi are up 3% on the session, while GS is off 1.5%. After seeing premarket losses after reporting net income down about 74% y/y, shares of Blackstone are back in the green, up 1% or so.

    Ebay is up nearly 4% this morning after disclosing solid second-quarter results and adding to its buyback. Keep in mind that Ebay spin-off Paypall enters the S&P 500 tomorrow after the close and begins trading next Monday, July 20th. Garmin and Fairchild Semi are big earnings losers. Garmin's preliminary second quarter guidance was very weak and it cut its FY view. FCS also missed expectations widely in its second quarter report. Shares of both names are off 9%. Intel gave up all of its post-market gains in the premarket, as investors refocused from the earnings beat to the guidance cut.

    ***Looking Ahead***
    - 14:00 (UK) BOE Gov Carney speaks in Lincoln, England
    - 16:00 (US) May Net Long-term TIC Flows: $30.0Be v $53.9B prior; Total Net TIC Flows: No est v $106.6B prior
    - 17:00 (KR) South Korea Jun PPI Y/Y: No est v -3.5% prior


    ***Economic data***
    - (EU) ECB left refinancing rate unchanged at 0.05%, deposit facility rate unchanged at -0.20%, marginal lending facility unchanged at 0.30%, as expected
    - (PL) Poland Jun CPI Core M/M: -0.1% v +0.1%e; Y/Y: 0.2% v 0.3%e
    - (PL) Poland Jun Average Gross Wages M/M: 2.4%e v -2.9% prior; Y/Y: 2.5% v 4.1%e
    - (PL) Poland Jun Employment M/M: 0.0% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 0.9% v 1.1%e
    - (RU) Russia Gold and Forex Reserve w/e July 10th: $359.9B v $359.6B prior
    - (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 281K v 285Ke; Continuing Claims: 2.215M v 2.30Me
    - (CA) Canada May Int'l Securities Transactions: -C$5.5B v +C$12.9B prior
    - (US) July Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook: 5.7 v 12.0e
    - (US) July NAHB Housing Market Index: 60 v 59e
    - (US) Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventories: +99 bcf vs. +93 to +97 bcf expected range

    [I]Contributed by Trade The News[/I]
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