10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Greece is set to vote on its bailout. The main event begins at 10 p.m. local time (3 p.m. in New York), and is likely to drag on into early tomorrow morning. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will need support from outside his coalition as Business Insider's Mike Bird reports, "Syriza (Tsipras' party) and the Independent Greeks have a combined 162 of the 300 seats. The Independent Greeks have already said they'll oppose the deal, and there will likely be a decent chunk of Syriza rebels." Greece's 2-year yield is up 63 basis points at 26.65%.
France agrees with the IMF that Greece's debt burden is too big. French finance minister Michel Sapin noted, "We cannot help Greece if we maintain the same debt reimbursement burden on the Greek economy." Sapin's comments follow an IMF report suggesting "the need for debt relief on a scale that would need to go well beyond what has been under consideration to date." Germany opposes any debt relief.
China GDP topped estimates. The Chinese economy grew at a 7.0% clip in the second quarter, edging out the 6.9% that economists were anticipating. Although the number was stronger than expected, it was the lowest reading since the first quarter of 2009. As for the other data, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment all topped forecasts. China's yuan was little changed at 6.2092 per dollar.
The Bank of Japan kept policy on hold and downgraded its outlook. Japan's central bank held its key rate unchanged, near zero, at Wednesdays' meeting, and lowered its economic forecast. The BOJ now sees the Japanese economy growing at 1.7% and inflation of 0.7%, through the fiscal year ending in March 2016. Those forecasts are down from the previous estimate of 2.0% and 0.8%, respectively. Japan's yen is down 0.1% at 123.53 per dollar.
UK jobs data disappointed. The UK's claimant count change unexpectedly rose by 7,000 when economists were forecasting a drop of 8,900. The disappointing number pushed the unemployment rate up to 5.6% from 5.5% while. May's three-month average of hourly earnings rose 2.8%, up slightly from April, but shy of the consensus forecast. The British pound is weaker by 0.1% at 1.5623.
Bank of America beat. The investment bank announced earnings of $0.45 per share, which included a one-time adjustment of $0.04. The results topped the $0.36 Wall Street estimate. Revenue rose 1.8% to $22.35 billion, beating the $21.83 billion that analysts were expecting."Solid core loan growth, higher mortgage originations and the lowest expenses since 2008 contributed to our strongest earnings in several years, as we continued to build broader and deeper relationships with our customers and clients," CEO Brian Moynihan said.
Yum Brands announced a fourth straight quarter of sliding sales. The quick service restaurant operator announced earnings of adjusted earnings of $0.69 per share, easily outpacing the $0.62 that Wall Street was expecting. Revenue fell 3.1% to $3.11 billion, which was shy of the $3.19 billion that analysts were anticipating. Same store sales in China continued to reel following last July's food scandal, cratering 10% in the quarter, much worse than the 8.4% that was expected.
Chinese stocks got crushed. Overnight, China's Shanghai Composite (-3.0%) lagged and Australia's ASX (+1.1%) led. In Europe, Spain's IBEX (+0.3%) paces a relatively muted trade. S&P 500 futures are up 1.75 points at 2103.75.
Yellen gives Day 1 of her Humphrey Hawkins Testimony. Fed Chair Janet Yellen appears before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m. ET for her semi-annual testimony. The text of her testimony will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Tomorrow, she testifies before the Senate Banking Committee.
US economic data is heavy. Producer prices and Empire State Manufacturing will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET and will be followed by industrial production and capacity utilization at 9:15 a.m. ET. Crude oil inventories are due out at 10:30 a.m. ET before the Fed's Beige Book crosses the wires at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 2.39%.