Some weak Chinese August data is dampening sentiment this morning: growth in China's fixed-asset investment slowed to its weakest pace in nearly 15 years. European stocks bounced at the open but then sank lower, with the exception of the Dax, which is holding up better. The Fed decision arrives on Thursday and certainly could be a cliffhanger. Sentiment is split as to whether the FOMC will go ahead and get the first hike out of the way or deliver a "hawkish hold" (in the words of Deutsche Bank). As of writing, the DJIA is down 0.33%, the S&P500 is down 0.24% and the Nasdaq is down 0.36%
Australia witnessed a party coup today, as Liberal Party member Malcolm Turnbull ousted sitting Prime Minister Tony Abbott. This was the second challenge to Abbott's leadership in 2015, and Abbott had been facing unfavorable public opinion polls in recent months. Events unfolded quickly Monday afternoon: at a short press conference, Turnbull declared he would look to replace Abbott, saying Australia had lost confidence in his leadership. Representing a different brand of conservatism to Abbott, Turnbull has cultivated an image of being smart on economics and technology, and more socially liberal than some of his party peers on marriage equality and climate change. AUD/USD rose from 0.7090 late on Sunday to one-month highs around 0.7147 as of writing.
WTI crude is around the lower end of last week's range, trading $44.30 this morning. OPEC released its monthly report, in which it revised its 2015 world oil demand growth forecast to 1.46M bpd, up 84K bpd mainly to reflect better-than-expected data from OECD region. In 2016, OPEC sees world oil demand rising by 1.29M bpd after a downward revision of around 50K bpd. OPEC warned that flagging economic performance in India and China could further reduce global crude prices.
Apple said that pre-orders for its newly released iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models were on pace to exceed last year's first-weekend orders, which were around 10 million units. Some analysts expressed caution about Apple's numbers, warning that China was not included a year ago but is in the mix this year, giving Cupertino an easy y/y comp. Pre-orders began over the weekend and the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus officially go on sale in stores on September 25. AAPL is up 1.5% this morning.
Private equity name Vista Equity reached a deal to acquire Solera for $3.74B, or around $6.5 billion including debt. The company, which makes insurance claims software, said last month that it was exploring a sale. Solera shareholders will receive $55.85/shr, a 13% premium to the company's closing price last Friday. Mylan launched its hostile takeover bid for Perrigo, worth $75 in cash and 2.3 Mylan ordinary shares for each Perrigo ordinary share. Perrigo again recommended its shareholders take no action on the offer.
Looking Ahead
- 16:00 (US) Weekly Crop Condition Report
- 17:00 (CO) Colombia Jun Economic Activity Index (Monthly GDP) Y/Y: No est v 3.3% prior
- 21:30 (AU) RBA Sept. Meeting Minutes
- 23:00 (JP) BOJ Interest Rate Decision: Expected to maintain Annual Rise in Monetary Base at ¥80T
Economic Data
- (IE) Ireland July Trade Balance: €3.6B v €4.1Be
- (IN) India Aug CPI Y/Y: 3.7% v 3.6%e (matches record low)
- (PL) Poland Aug M3 Money Supply M/M: 0.7% v 1.2%e; Y/Y: 7.3% v 8.0%e
- (PL) Poland July Current Account Balance: -€1.7B v -€0.5Be; Trade Balance: -€1.0B v +€0.1Be
- (CA) Canada Aug Teranet/National Bank HPI M/M: 1.0% v 1.2% prior; Y/Y: 5.4% v 5.1% prior; House Price Index: 176.12 v 174.33 prior
[I]Contributed by Trade The News[/I]