Australian surfer Justen Allport escaping a wave during the Cape Fear surfing tournament in heavy seas off Sydney's Cape Solander in Australia.
Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton has locked up enough pledged and unpledged delegates to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the Associated Press reported Monday night. The announcement came ahead of a busy day for primaries as voters in California, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, New Jersey, and South Dakota go to the polls. Clinton's clinching of the nomination means she will be the first woman to head the ticket of a major US political party.
Australia's central bank has signaled there won't be a rate cut anytime soon. The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 1.75%, as expected. In its statement, the RBA said, "Taking account of the available information, and having eased monetary policy at its May meeting, the board judged that holding the stance of policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and inflation returning to target over time." The bank warned, however, that a stronger Aussie dollar could complicate things. The Australian dollar is up 1.1% at .7446 per dollar.
The Reserve Bank of India kept policy on hold. India's central bank held its key rate at 6.50%, as expected. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan noted, "The inflation surprise in the April reading makes the future trajectory of inflation somewhat more uncertain." Additionally, the RBI retained its 2016 growth forecast of 7.6%. The Indian rupee ended higher by 0.3% at 66.7500 per dollar.
China's FX reserve fell again. China's foreign-exchange reserves fell by $27.9 billion in May to $3.19 trillion, according to data released by the People's Bank of China. May's decline dropped China's hoard, which is the largest in the world, to its lowest level since December 2011, according to Reuters.
Eurozone GDP was revised up. Data from Eurostat showed that the eurozone economy expanded by 0.6% in the first quarter, a bit faster than the previous look of 0.5%. Additionally, annual gross-domestic-product growth was revised up to 1.7% from 1.5%. According to Eurostat, "Among member states for which data are available for the first quarter of 2016, Romania (+1.6%), Cyprus (+0.9%), Spain, Lithuania, Austria and Slovakia (all +0.8%), Bulgaria and Germany (both +0.7%) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter. Decreases were registered in Hungary (-0.8%), Greece (-0.5%), and Poland (-0.1%), while GDP in Estonia remained stable." The euro is up 0.1% at 1.1361.
Second-round bids for Yahoo's internet business were due. Verizon Communications reportedly planned to submit a bid worth about $3 billion for Yahoo's internet business, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The telecom giant reportedly isn't interested in other Yahoo assets such as patents and real estate, the report said. The private-equity firm TPG and a team led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert are said to be among the other interested parties.
Ralph Lauren is about to announce a restructuring plan. The retailer is expected to announce that it is laying off up to 10% of its workforce and that it is closing some stores, according to WWD's Lisa Lockwood. "Several longtime executives" are likely to be affected by the layoffs. CEO and president Stefan Larsson is expected to announce the restructuring at Tuesday's Investor Day for analysts.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals reports. The embattled pharmaceutical company announced a loss of $1.08 a share, which was adjusted to a gain of $1.27 when factoring out one-time adjustments. Valeant said 2016 earnings would total $6.60 to $7 a share, below the $8.50 to $9.50 that was forecast by former CEO Michael Pearson back in March. Shares of Valeant are down close to 11% in premarket trade.
Stock markets everywhere are higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1.4%) paced the overnight advance, and Germany's DAX (+1.7%) leads the way up in Europe. S&P 500 futures are higher by 6.00 points at 2,114.25.
US economic data picks up. Productivity and unit labor costs are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, and consumer credit will cross the wires at 3 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 1.73%.