Morning Market Report

The major indices are looking to have a perfect week. The first four days were all up. All indices were up between one and two percent yesterday. They have made up a great majority of losses over the last four weeks. Earnings continue to be the order of the day. Both GE and Bank of America announced earnings this morning. GE missed their numbers, while BofA beat their numbers but gave a dim outlook going forward. Both are down significantly while it's taken off about a half a percent off most indices. Meanwhile, there's breaking news with the announcement of very strong earnings in the second quarter. Citigroup made a profit of a whopping $4.28 billion though much of that came from their sale in their stake of Smith Barney. The sale of Smith Barney accounted for a gain of $6.7 billion and so the company lost about $2.4 billion outside of that sale. Finally, June's housing starts came in better than expected increasing by 3.6% over this time last year. Given that rates were moving up the entire month, that number may warrant some analysis.

The markets in Asia were all up lead by the Hang Seng in China up 2.4%, the NIKKEI in Japan was up .55%, while the Straits Time Index was up 1.25%. In Europe the news a was a bit more mixed. The FTSE in London was up .6%, the DAX in German was up .63%, while the Spanish index was down .18%.

The dollar looks to open up against most other currencies short of the Yen. It is trading up .88% against the British Pound, .49% against the Euro, while the dollar is losing .04% against the Yen. Oil is off 84 cents to $61.18 though it's still nearly two dollars higher than its recent lows which touched below $60 per barrel.

Finally, Treasury bonds had another good day yesterday. The ten year lost another four hundredth of a percent. That's was the second day in a row after three straight days of rising rates. Bonds are giving back most of their gains today. Rates look up about those four basis points they lost yesterday. Meanwhile, the yield spread between the 2 year and 10 year has grown to 2.6%, a further sign that inflation is coming soon.

Disclosure:

Everything in this space should be taken as information only. All opinions are my own only and should NOT be taken as an endorsement or investment strategy. I am not a licensed investment advisor and nothing here should be taken as investment advice.