Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
China cuts growth goal, some green shoots in Europe’s economy, and Trump finds another trade target. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Cuts
China lowered its goal for economic growth this year to between 6 and 6.5 percent, the weakest in almost three decades. When announcing the target at the first day of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, Premier Li Keqiang warned of a “tough economic battle ahead” as he unveiled 2 trillion yuan ($298 billion) of tax cuts while the defense budget will grow by 7.5 percent. Shares in Shanghai closed at their highest level since June.
A little better
PMI data for the euro area showed expansion in February was stronger than originally estimated, with a composite index climbing to 51.9 for the month, boosted by services. Retail sales numbers for the single-currency zone showed a rebound in January, climbing 1.3 percent from the previous month. Services PMI for the U.K. indicated that economy remains close to stagnation.
More trade measures
President Donald Trump announced plans to end trade preferences for India and Turkey, beginning a 60-day countdown to the potential termination of designations that allow duty-free entry of wide-ranging products from those countries. The move comes just weeks before India’s national elections and may increase opposition attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy track record. Two separate reports published over the weekend found that the cost of Trump’s trade policies ran into the billions of dollars and are being largely borne by American consumers.
Markets mixed
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.3 percent while Japan’s Topix index closed 0.5 percent lower with technology shares among the worst performers. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.1 percent lower at 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time as investors awaited more details on any potential U.S.-China trade deal, and Thursday’s ECB decision. S&P 500 futures pointed to a small gain at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.737 percent and gold was lower.
Coming up…
At 10:00 a.m., shutdown-delayed data on December home sales is expected to show an 8.7 percent contraction from the previous month. At the same time, the February ISM non-manufacturing index is published. The monthly budget statement for January is released at 2:00 p.m. And it’s a big day for retail sector earnings, with Target Corp., Kohl’s Corp. and Ross Stores Inc. among the companies reporting.
What we've been reading
This is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
- Trump’s new Attorney General won’t recuse himself in Mueller probe.
- As Wall Street frets, mom and pop dip their toes back into stocks.
- What JPMorgan learned from combing through 25,000 corporate transcripts.
- Greece begins first sale of 10-year bonds since 2010.
- CLO slowdown would be a boon for leveraged loans, Pinebridge says.
- Asia’s top stock is now a Chinese pig farmer after an 85 percent surge.
- Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sid Verma at sverma100@bloomberg.net, Sam Unsted
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