Reuters Insider - U.S. Morning Call: Wall Street to open higher a day after new tariffs; Instagram; Consumer Confidence

Pluri

25/09/2018 13:39

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Source: Reuters Insider

Description: U.S. stock index futures are set to open modestly higher a day
after fresh U.S.-China tariffs kicked in. Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and
Mike Krieger announced they would leave the business, owned by Facebook. Brace
for Nike results out after the bell and U.S. consumer confidence data.
Short Link: https://reut.rs/2MX4jIY

Video Transcript:

Good morning. I'm Angeline Ong and this is your US morning call. Wall Street
looks set to open slightly higher a day after a new round of US-China trade
tariffs kicked in. The Dow Jones, the S&P, and the Nasdaq futures are just
into positive territory there. Both China nor Washington are budging in the
escalating trade dispute. A senior Chinese official says it's difficult to
proceed with trade talks with the US while Washington is putting "a knife to
China's neck". The comments coming a day after both sides heaped fresh tariffs
on each other's goods. Now almost all Asian currencies struggled as the Dollar
firmed ahead of an expected Federal Reserve rate hike. So is the growing rates
gap between the US and most other major economies a problem? Earlier, we put
that question to CMC Market's analyst Michael Hewson. br/  br/ Only in so much
as the interest rate differentials will start to favor the Dollar more and
more and place downward pressure on emerging market currencies. Another time
when oil prices are rising, I think there are concerns that an inflationary
shock in emerging markets could actually ripple out into the rest of the
global economy so I think there are concerns there. I don't think the concerns
are about to do with what the Fed is likely to do this year. The concerns are
about the type of guidance that they issue into 2019.  br/  br/ To economic
news and US consumer confidence figures are expected to remain close to an
18-year high in September, show a Reuters survey. Now back in August,
households remained upbeat on the labor market. This points to strong consumer
spending that should underpin the economy for the rest of this year.
Meanwhile, Instagram's co-founders have made an insta exit. Kevin Systrom and
Mike Krieger resigned as CEO and chief technical officer of the photo-sharing
app owned by Facebook giving almost no reason for the move. br/ The departures
at Facebook's fastest-growing sales generator comes just months after the exit
of Jan Koum, co-founder of Facebook-owned WhatsApp. This leaves the social
network without the developers behind two of its biggest services. Let's have
a look at some stocks to watch this morning then. And in the drug sector,
Pluristem shares in focus, up 7% in premarket.  br/ That's after the FDA
granted its cell therapy 'orphan' status. In retail, Jefferies says Amazon's
reported plans to roll-out its cashless convenience stores puts more risk on
companies that manage income producing property like shopping centers. So far
this month, retail real estate investment trusts have fallen more than the S&P
500 retail index's drop. And keeping an eye on Nike shares too. After the
close, the global sports brand is expected to report a rise in quarterly
sales. Revenue is seen rising 9.6%, according to a mean estimate in a Reuters
poll.  br/ Nike, famous for its 'just do it' tag line, has seen its shares
rise almost 35% so far this year. And that's today's morning call. I'm
Angeline Ong, and this is Reuters