EU Markets Open Lower
Home Depot and Cisco Earnings
Oil Prices Edge Higher
Market Recap – This week in a nutshell: Bitcoin Streaks To $4,480 Overnight
Last week we saw a massive bitcoin rally after the cryptocurrency surged to a new all-time high of over $4,480 on Tuesday. Meanwhile in the U.S., president Trump failed to adequately condemn white supremacists who caused deadly violence at a rally in Charlottesville. The president’s passive statements caused four of his executives to step down from a White House business group setup to advise the president.*
Thu, August 17: In Today’s Markets…
1. European Markets Open Lower
Markets in Europe started the day on a bearish note on Thursday as uncertainty surrounding internal U.S. policy continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Specifically, Trump caused a mass exodus of chief executives after his elusive response to the violence incidents in Charlottesville. Meantime, minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting on Wednesday revealed that policymakers are divided over their view future interest rate hikes. In corporate earnings, Alibaba (BABA), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Wirecard AG (WDIG) are all reporting earnings pre-market today.**
2. Home Depot Delivers Record Q2 Results, Cisco Shares Trade Flat on Weak Sales
Home Depot reported 6.2% sales growth for Q2 and revenues of $28.1 billion marking the company’s best quarter in its history. Home Depot (HD) closed 1.4 percent higher in U.S. trading. Contrastingly, Cisco Systems (CSCO) dipped after some weaker than expected Q4 earnings where key revenue sources declined. The company also forecast more declines for the current quarter. Specifically, net income fell 14% on a GAAP basis, to $2.4B causing CSCO to close flat. You can find and trade both CSCO and HD on BDSwiss Forex/CFD platforms*
3. Oil Edges Higher on Crude Stocks Decline
Oil prices edged up higher on Thursday, gaining back some of their previous losses. Data published late on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that commercial U.S. crude oil stocks dropped by almost 13 percent to 466.5 million barrels, well below last year’s numbers. It should be noted that falling crude inventories provided some price support while increasing output capped gains.***
*Source: Seeking Alpha
**Source: CNBC
***Source: Bloomberg
