Morning Memo: Thursday, July 18, 2013

"Morning Memo" begins below this "NOTE for  NEWCOMERS" to "Morning Memo"...... Each morning, we post a short bullet-point list of noteworthy events, data, etc that find their way into the assessment of global markets.  It's far from complete and is not meant to be an exhaustive reconciliation of all things that could possibly impact stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities!  Rather, it's best viewed as a cryptic memo of "highlights", noteworthy items that took place in Asia, European and US hours.....and color-coded 'Red' for seemingly negative impact on equity markets, 'Green' for positive.
This will also serve as a useful review mechanism, as scrolling through the series of "Morning Memo" posts over time ought to summarily highlight what generally drove price action.  
We hope you find this useful and informative....and as always, that you'll share feedback!! 

• Bernanke's testimony yesterday left markets relieved that further stimulus is here to stay...(until it isn't!) and the Beige Book which found expanding manufacturing, rising consumer spending, stable to growing services activity, and moderate to strong residential real estate and construction, confirmed a moderate pace of expansion.  All told, enough to keep markets generally positive, but not euphoric.
• After hours earnings by Intel disappointed, but IBM beat and had positive outlook sending Asia enough reason to trade generally higher.  Nikkei up, China down.
• Australia...business confidence and conditions weakened in June.
• IMF will ask the US Supreme Court to take up the Argentina vs "Holdouts" case with potential big implications for future sovereign debt restructurings. Been going on since '01....worth watching closely.
• IMF warns that China's growth is slowing and reforms must be implemented more quickly.
• India....the RBI's move to tighten liquidity earlier this weak in defense of the Rupee has sent bank shares down hard earlier this week.  Earnings from nonstate banks beat, so today saw some bottom-fishing bounce.
• European stocks mixed, with little momentum ahead of 'Bernanke Day 2"....
• Brazil...have you already bought tickets for the '14 World Cup?  Hope not....Fifa is questioning whether Brazil should still be the site for the '14 Wrold Cup based on recent wide-scale protests re the economy, transportation costs, etc.
• Russia...care to oppose Putin?  As opposition leader Navalny who was just sentenced to five years in a prison camp for what he claims is a fabricated case of stealing timber.  Russia's stock mkt dropped close to 2% after the sentence was announced.
• India....adding 50,000 troops to China border, viewing China as bigger threat than Pakistan!  (That's not to say that Pakistan is less of a threat...just less relative to China....Hmmmm.....)
• US Jobless Claims bte (Better than expected) though seasonal adjustments might explain some of it away. 
• Philly Fed Index...much bte!  Highest since March '11, though new orders softened.
• Moody's upgrades US AAA credit rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative'   
• Detroit files for bankruptcy!!
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