Thursday Morning Reads
Reads:
- Be Careful What You Wish For
- The Top Is In
- Investors Bet On China’s Localisation Push
- Time Runs Out for Dollar Bulls
- Big Tech’s Domination of Business Reaches New Heights
- Big-Box Retailers’ Profits Surge
- Can This Relationship Be Saved
- It’s a Shot at Payback
- Rental Market Rebounds
- Sales Growth Bounces Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels
- Microsoft Deepens Oil Ties
- Apple’s Next Trillion Won’t Come That Easily
- The Four Most Dangerous Words
Futures:
Premium:
Open Interest
Seekingalpha
China says U.S. trade talks will happen soon
China and the United States will meet "in the coming days" to discuss the progress of the Phase 1 trade deal reached in February. Earlier this week, the White House signaled that no high-level trade talks were on the schedule. Phase 1 requires China to import $77B more than 2017 levels of certain U.S. goods within the first year, and official data suggests China is running far behind schedule on the target.
Fed cutting one-week dollar swaps with central banks - ECB
Starting September 1, the Federal Reserve will cut seven-day swap operations with major central banks from three tenders per week to one due to the improved funding environment. The Fed will maintain the one per week pace for the 84-day tender schedules for a few banks, including the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan.
Household spending surprised Fed officials by its strength: FOMC minutes
While the Fed's policy-setting committee was surprised by how strong household spending grew since its June meeting, it was quick to caution that uncertainty over the economic outlook is "highly elevated", according to FOMC minutes for the July 28-29 meeting. Risks to the outlook include new waves of the coronavirus and the possibility that government fiscal support wasn't enough. Some Fed officials worried that banks and financial institutions might come under "significant stress" if they face a more adverse scenario due to increased COVID-19 infections. Several participants suggested that additional accommodations might be required to promote economic recovery and return inflation to the FOMC's 2% objective.
Nio now offers EV battery leasing
Chinese electric vehicle company Nio (NYSE:NIO) launched a "battery as a service" leasing program, making one of the most expensive parts of EVs more accessible to drivers. Removing the battery purchase requirement drops the price of Nio’s entry-level ES6 SUV from 343,600 yuan to 273,600 yuan.
FDA puts emergency approval of blood plasma on hold
Needing more time to review data, the FDA has paused the planned emergency authorization for blood plasma as a COVID-19 treatment. Government health leaders including Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci had urged caution, citing weak data from the country’s largest plasma study.
Intel announces $10B accelerated share buyback, reversing suspension
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) revived its buybacks with a $10B accelerated share repurchase agreement. The ASR is part of the $20B share repurchase program announced last October that was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the sale closes, Intel will have repurchased $17.6B of shares under the program.
Go Deeper: See Intel's financials
Epic-Apple judge ruled for Apple in similar 2013 case
The new judge assigned to Fortnite maker Epic Games' showdown with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) over the App Store's payment policy gave the iPhone maker a big victory in a 2013 case covering similar issues. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed a suit seven years ago that claimed Apple's apps monopoly had led to hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer overcharges. That older case zeroed in on Apple's 30% cut from the App Store as well - but plaintiffs' reasoning was rejected by Rogers, who called the fees a passthrough and not subject to consumer challenges over antitrust. Epic is 40% owned by Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY).
Go Deeper: View Tencent's growth Quant ratings
Facebook wins court approval to settle biometric privacy lawsuit
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has received preliminary court approval to settle a suit that charged the company with illegally collecting and storing user biometric data. Illinois users relied on the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act to say that Facebook's "Tag Suggestions" photo-recognition feature was illegal. Facebook had raised its settlement offer by $100M, to $650M, which looks to have resolved court concerns.
What else is happening…
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) in talks for banking services at post offices.Icahn boosts stake in Xerox (NYSE:XRX) to 12.82%.GE (NYSE:GE) signs deals to add 1.5 GW to Iraq's power grid.
Wednesday's Key Earnings
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) -1.55% PM after reporting upside Q2 on gaming strength, record data center sales.
L Brands (NYSE:LB) +2.6% PM after blasting past Q2 estimates.
Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) +3.9% PM on FQ3 beats, upside full-year earnings forecast.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan -1%. Hong Kong -1.54%. China -1.30%. India -0.84%.
In Europe, at midday, London -1.32%. Paris -1.43%. Frankfurt -1.22%.
Futures at 6:10, Dow -0.39%. S&P -0.36%. Nasdaq -0.16%. Crude -1.18% to $42.60. Gold -1.74% to $1,936.10. Bitcoin +0.02% to $11,809.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -2.2 bps to 0.653%
Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Fed's Daly: "The New Future of Work"
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet