What you need to know before the US open – 13/02
Markets are in the red today, and US markets are expected to track counterparts lower, as the S&P 500 futures shed 0.7 per cent.
The dollar’s hit a two-week low against the euro, adding to investor disappointment of its failure to take off this year.
The weather is continuing to wreak havoc and the ground and cause problems for traders too.
Janet Yellen’s scheduled appearance before the Senate banking committee today had to be postponed because of a forecast snowstorm, and economists’ warnings on the impact of the weather on data have been coming in thick and fast.
Economic data
And it looks like, when it came to US retail sales, the caution was right: sales in January slipped 0.4 per cent. Consensus was for no change, after December’s revised fall of 0.1 per cent.
Numbers were up 2.6 per cent year-on-year last month, but this was because of auto and non-store spending.
Initial jobless claims, also just in, saw 339,000 signing up for employment benefits last week. Expectations were that 330,000 would be added, from 331,000 the week before.
Corporate news
On the corporate side of things, Comcast, the US’s biggest cable company, has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable – the second largest – for $45bn.
Back over the pond
Weak results from BNP Paribas, Cisco Systems and others have seen European stocks break a six-day rally.
Greek unemployment went up to a record 28 per cent in November, meaning it’s still over double the Eurozone average.
In Nigeria, devaluation rumours sent the naira crashing to levels not seen for over two decades.
And Indonesia’s central bank left interest rates on hold at 7.5 per cent today, after a more reassuring run of economic data took the pressure of assets.