• Tech stocks fell after hackers targeted Twitters high-profile accounts
• ECB kept interest rates on hold
• S&P 500 dropped from a five-week high
• ECB kept interest rates on hold
• S&P 500 dropped from a five-week high
European indices finished today's session in red after the ECB kept monetary policy on hold, following months of unprecedented measures to support the bloc's economy amid the coronavirus crisis. Now investors await the EU leaders meeting to discuss the EUR 750 billion coronavirus common recovery fund and the EU’s next-term budget. Also growing trade tensions between US and China weighed on market sentiment. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US is willing to implement visa restrictions on certain Chinese companies amid human rights violations. Meanwhile investors are trying to digest mixed set of economic data from China. GDP rose 3.2%, well above market expectations, but retail sales were lower than expected, dropping 1.8% in June. After publication of today's data the Shanghai Composite fell 4.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2.1%. In Europe DAX lost 0.4%, CAC40 declined 0.5% and FTSE100 finished 0.7% lower.
US indices are also trading lower, as concerns about the economic toll from surging coronavirus cases nationwide were amplified by data showing elevated levels of unemployment claims. US retail sales figures came in better than expected in June, but a rising number of in new coronavirus infections is making a negative impact on the battered economy. Recent jobless claims report showed that 1.3 million US citizens applied for unemployment benefits last week, above analysts’ expectations of 1.25 million. Recent spike in new cases forced some states such as California to shut down again, which caused concerns of more business damage and slowing the pace of a Wall Street rally. Many analysts also pointed out that the S&P 500 is having problems with breaking above 3,230 pts, its breakeven level for the year. On the earnings front Morgan Stanley (MS.US), Bank of America (BAC.US)and J&J (JNJ.US) posted better than expected quarterly results. Netflix (NFLX.US) is due to report after the market close. Meanwhile Twitter (TWTR.US) stock is trading under pressure, following a security hack that targeted some of Twitter’s highest-profile users in an attempted cryptocurrency heist. Company is investigating this security breach, which impacted the accounts of former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and others. A tweet, that was rendered inactive about 10 minutes after it went out, from Musk's account read "Feeling greatful [sic], doubling all payments sent to my BTC address! You send $1,000, I send back $2,000! Only doing this for the next 30 minutes." According to CoinDesk, Twitter accounts for Gemini, Binance, KuCoin, Coinbase, Litecoin's Charlie Lee, Tron's Justin Sun, Bitcoin, Bitfinex, Ripple, Cash App, and CoinDesk, were also compromised. Also Tesla (TSLA.US) is trading lower as recent data from marketing research firm Cross-Sell showed that its vehicle registrations in California dropped almost 50% during the second quarter.
Oil prices fell on Thursday, with Brent trading around $43.40 per barrel and WTI at $40.80 per barrel, after OPEC+ confirmed they would decrease July’s record production cuts to 7.7 million bdp from August until December. Meanwhile California Resources (CRC.US), the largest oil driller in the state, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest casualty of the recent oil price crash.
Gold price polled back a bit during today's trading session, however precious metal managed to stay above the key $1,800 level. Palladium rose 0.18% to $1,984.89 an ounce, while platinum fell 0.7% to $826.32 per ounce and silver dropped 0.5 % to $19.28.
There are no major data prints scheduled for release on Friday. Euro zone core inflation rate will be the key release of the European session while US Building Permits and Housing Starts will be on watch during US trading hours. Apart from that, investors will get to know Michigan consumer sentiment and inflation expectations figures. Last but not least, EU leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss the long-term EU budget 2021-2027 and the recovery plan. On the earnings front, BlackRock Inc., Volvo, Ericsson, Nordea Bank, Snapchat, Danske Bank will publish their quarterly results.
USDCHF depreciated to around $0.945, its lowest level since July 2nd, as rising Sino-US tensions and surging number of new coronavirus cases prompted demand for the US dollar. On Tuesday, head of the SNB Thomas Jordan announced that the central bank will continue to intervene strongly in the foreign exchange market to stop the rise of the highly valued franc in order to prevent deflation and protect the export-orientated economy. Currently currency pair is testing the 0.9433 support level. If sellers will manage to push the price below it, then next support at 0.9374 may be at risk. Local resistance is located at 0.9469. Source: xStation5This content has been created by XTB S.A. This service is provided by XTB S.A., with its registered office in Warsaw, at Prosta 67, 00-838 Warsaw, Poland, entered in the register of entrepreneurs of the National Court Register (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy) conducted by District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw, XII Commercial Division of the National Court Register under KRS number 0000217580, REGON number 015803782 and Tax Identification Number (NIP) 527-24-43-955, with the fully paid up share capital in the amount of PLN 5.869.181,75. XTB S.A. conducts brokerage activities on the basis of the license granted by Polish Securities and Exchange Commission on 8th November 2005 No. DDM-M-4021-57-1/2005 and is supervised by Polish Supervision Authority.
