Japan's prime minister orders a stimulus package after his election win. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party scored a big win in Upper House elections held over the weekend. The election was said to be a referendum on Abe's economic stimulus plan dubbed "Abenomics," which uses the "three arrows" of fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms. Following the victory, Abe ordered a new round of fiscal stimulus. The Japanese yen is weaker by 1.8% at 102.38 per dollar.
Deutsche Bank's chief economist says the EU should set up a bank bailout fund. David Folkerts-Landau, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank, told German newspaper Die Welt, the European Union should set up a 150 billion euro ($165.39 billion) bank recapitalization program, Reuters reports. Folkerts-Landau said, "We are witnessing one crisis after another and I can, by no stretch of the imagination, make out growth prospects anywhere." European banks have struggled with a rising amount of non-performing loans, which has been compounded by the difficulty of raising capital in a negative deposit rate environment.
China's CPI slowed. Consumer prices in China slowed to up 1.9% year-over-year in June, their slowest pace in five months. Food prices eased to up 4.6%, versus their 5.9% gain in May, while non-food prices were up just 1.1%. Meanwhile, producer prices fell for a 51st straight month, down 2.8%.
The dollar hit a four-month high. The US Dollar Index reached a high of 96.79 in early trade, making for its best print since March 15. The greenback has climbed 4.3% since hitting a 16-month low of 92.62 on May 2. Currently, the index is higher by higher by 0.3% at 96.61.
Pokemon Go is taking over the world. Shares of Nintendo gained 24.5% on Monday as the Pokemon Go craze continues. The app, made by Nintendo, allows you to catch Pokemon using your phone's GPS to create augmented reality. The gain was the biggest one-day advance for Nintendo since 1983, according to Bloomberg's David Ingles in Hong Kong.
The biggest tech IPO of the year is coming. Japanese text messaging app Line has priced its initial public offering at ¥3,300 per share ($32.25), the upper end of its range, Reuters reports, citing a filing with Japan's finance ministry. The IPO will raise as much as $1.3 billion with shares trading in both Tokyo and New York.
UFC was sold. The mixed martial arts promoter was sold for $4 billion to a consortium of investors, led by talent agency WME-IMG, the New York Times reports. Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White confirmed the sale, but did not announce the sale price. White told ESPN he will stay on in his role as president.
Universal's "The Secret Life of Pets" had a record-breaking weekend at the box office. The animated film raked in an estimated $103 million opening weekend, according to Exhibitor Relations. That's the biggest total ever for an animated film that wasn't a sequel or spin-off. Additionally, "Finding Dory" brought in another $21 million, running its box office total up to more than $420 million. It's now the highest grossing Disney (and Pixar) animated film of all-time at the domestic box office.
Stock markets around the world are higher. Japan's Nikkei (+4.0%) lead the gains in Asia and Germany's DAX (+1.2%) paces the advance in Europe. S&P 500 futures are up 6.25 points at 2126.75.
Earnings season gets underway. Alcoa is set to release its quarterly results after the opening bell. The company is expected to earn an adjusted $0.09 per share on revenue of $5.27 billion.
US economic data is absent. It picks back up on Tuesday with the release of JOLTS Job Openings. The US 10-year yield is up three basis points at 1.38%.