10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell
Oct 25, 2013, 16:37 IST
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- Markets in Asia were lower in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 2.8%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng dropped 0.6%, and the Shanghai Composite shed 1.5%. European markets are mostly lower, led by the Italian FTSE MIB, currently down 1.0%. In the United States, futures point to a mixed open.
- Investors staged the biggest weekly inflow into European equity funds ever over the past week, pouring $5.0 billion into the asset class. Many analysts are concerned about fundamentals as Europe's earnings reporting season hits full swing.
- It wasn't just Europe, though - equity funds everywhere had a strong week. The asset class took in $21.4 billion globally, with $6.0 billion going into long-only funds (the strongest week for those funds in 9 months). U.S. equity funds expanded assets under management by $11.5 billion, while EM funds recorded $2.6 billion in inflows and Japan funds took in $0.4 billion.
- Japan's consumer price index unexpectedly rose 1.1% from a year earlier in September - economists expected no change from August's 0.9% pace of growth. "The main reason for the headline surprise was the rapid increase in fresh food prices during the month, and, excluding that factor, the month-over-month inflation (-0.1% seasonally adjusted) was the weakest in ten months," say Société Générale economists Takuji Aida and Kiyoko Katahira. "However, we think such weakness is just a temporary retracement, after the persistent rise between April and August."
- The People's Bank of China took a further step toward interest rate liberalization Friday by announcing that it would allow banks to set a prime lending rate while phasing out the central bank's own policy lending rate. The central bank said the new system will 'help the smooth transformation of the (loan) pricing benchmark from being set by the central bank to being decided by the market."
- Amazon reported a loss of $0.09 per share in Q3, just as analysts expected. Revenues were $17.09 billion, ahead of the $16.76 billion consensus estimate. Shares are higher in pre-market trading.
- Zynga reported a loss of $0.02 per share, narrower than the $0.04 loss expected by analysts. Revenues were $152 million, ahead of the $143 million consensus estimate. The virtual game-maker said it has 30 million daily active users. Shares are around 13% higher in pre-market trading.
- Microsoft reported Q3 earnings of $0.62 per share, ahead of consensus estimates for $0.54 EPS. Revenues also exceeded expectations, coming in at $18.53 billion versus $17.79 billion. The computing giant said revenues from its Surface tablet were $400 million, and unit sales of the device were doubled from Q2. Shares are higher in pre-market trading.
- September durable goods orders data are released in the U.S. at 8:30 AM ET. Economists predict total orders rose 2.3% last month after expanding only 0.1% in August. Nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft (a.k.a. "core capex") are expected to have risen 1.0% in September after a 1.5% advance the month before.
- The final results of the University of Michigan's October consumer confidence survey are due out at 9:55 AM. Economists predict the headline index in the Michigan report will fall to 75.0 from September's 77.5 reading. Preliminary survey results released earlier this month suggested a drop to 75.2. Follow the data LIVE on Business Insider »