Morning Wrap (25.07.2024)

Asia-Pacific indices are losing, extending declines after Wall Street indices closed lower. Indexes from China are losing between 1.20-1.50%, Japan's Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.65% lower near the 37900 level and Australia's S&P/ASX200 is trading 0.13% lower. Singapore SG20cash index futures are losing 0.55%.

European index futures also point to a lower opening of the cash session on the Old Continent. The UK100 is trading flat and the DAX 0.15% lower.

In the forex market, in the first part of the day, the Japanese yen gains the most, extending the recent strong upward movement. USDJPY dips by 0.55% down to 152.9000. On the other hand, among the weakest currencies today, we can observe the Australian and New Zealand dollar.

The Q2 GDP report from South Korea showed a decline of 0.2% q/q versus expectations of 0.1% q/q growth. Korea recorded its first three-month period of negative growth since the late stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline was largely due to downside pressure in income.

IBM gained 3.00% in after-hours trading following the release of its quarterly results after the cash session closed on Wall Street. The report turned out to be better than expected. Earnings per share were $2.43 vs. the expected $2.20. Meanwhile, revenues were $15.77 billion, compared to the expected $15.62 billion.

The company's contracted orders in generative artificial intelligence amounted to over $2 billion at the end of the quarter, compared to just $1 billion in April. IBM remains optimistic about the coming quarters, despite a slight downturn in the market.

Ford stock dropped 11.60% in after-hours trading following the release of its quarterly results after the close of the regular session. The report was significantly worse than Wall Street expectations. Earnings per share were $0.47 compared to the expected $0.68. Automotive revenue was $44.81 billion, compared to the expected $44.02 billion.

Ford's CFO John Lawler stated during a media briefing that profitability was impacted by an increase in warranty reserves used to cover vehicle failure costs. These costs are related to vehicles from the 2021 model year or older.

Declines on Wall Street initially did not significantly affect the sentiment in the cryptocurrency market yesterday. However, in the first part of today, we are observing a collapse in sentiment. Bitcoin is down 1.80% to $64,100, and Ethereum is down as much as 4.50% to $3,190.

The decline in Ethereum is due to increased supply from investors in the Grayscale fund, who can finally liquidate their positions after the introduction of ETH ETFs.

Meanwhile, with Bitcoin, we are also seeing increased supply caused by the distribution of funds from the collapsed Mt. Gox exchange. The latest information indicates that additional tranches were delivered to investors this week