Newscasts - US Morning Call: Target beats forecasts, Fed minutes in view
21/08/2024 13:00
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_ti4je8nh&referenceId=1_ti4je8nh&pageId=Newscasts Source: 'Reuters - Business videos' Description: Target raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday and beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter comparable sales. But premarket trading on Wall Street was lacklustre as investors awaited FOMC minutes and government revisions to jobs data, due later in the day. Short Link: https://refini.tv/3AJ4m9C Video Transcript: Wall Street futures are lacklustre but Target is upbeat. Welcome to US Morning Call. I'm David Pollard. US stock futures were modestly positive pre-market as investors remain on the sidelines ahead of key data and Fed minutes. Wall Street closed slightly lower on Tuesday, breaking a recent winning streak ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium. Among early movers, US-listed shares of JD.com dropped 7.7% pre-market after Reuters reported that Walmart, its biggest shareholder, has sold its entire stake in the e-commerce firm in order to focus on its own China operations. But shares of Target were up as much as 15% in pre-market trading after Lowe’s cut its forecasts on Tuesday, echoing Home Depot’s concerns over consumer spending, Target bucked the trend by raising its annual profit forecast and beating expectations for Q2 sales. Cost savings and leaner inventory have helped their performance. TJX and Macy's were also due to report. Later today we get the minutes of the Fed's last meeting. We also get government labor market revisions, which could some expect, show the US created as many as 1,000,000 fewer jobs in the year to April. Financial markets are currently pricing in a 69.5% likelihood of a 25-basis-point cut at the September FOMC. But in a dent to those hopes, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said on Tuesday she remains cautious about any monetary policy shift, citing continued upside risks for inflation. Well, amid all that, the Dollar slipped to its lowest this year versus the Euro, before edging higher. It also dipped below the closely watched 145 Yen level and hovered close to a more than one-year low to Sterling reached overnight. As for stocks, with few other market moving catalysts, some profit taking may be setting in. We've had a nice bounce as we noticed since a couple of weeks ago. So, I think it's just a normal, hey, you've had some run, take a little bit off the table, some of the data that came out today in terms of earnings, there are some qualitative stuff that didn't sound as good as it would like to, so I think it’s normal. Meanwhile, the price of oil is holding broadly steady after a run of declines pushed Brent down towards $77 a barrel. Sources say API data shows US crude stocks rising last week by 347,000 barrels. Official figures are due out later today, while the geopolitical risk premium seems to be falling as the US continues to try and broker a ceasefire in Gaza. Finally, also later today, Synopsis is expected to report higher third quarter revenues driven by growing demand for chip design software amid the AI boom. Focus will be on its $35 billion deal to buy Ansys with regulators in the UK looking into whether it could hurt competition there. That is US Morning Call