General News:
– PPI drops 0.2%, but core is up 0.3%. The cause of the core rate hike is auto prices.
– Breakdown of PPI: Women’s apparel rose 0.1%, gasoline fell 3.9%, cars rose 1.4%, light trucks rose 1%, food fell 0.8%, fruit fell 15%, and eggs fell 26% with energy falling 1.1%.
– WSJ reports that falling home prices are about to take a chunk out of many midsized bank profits. Banks were shelling out loans to real estate developers, and now with prices down on land and homes, banks have to write off the loans.
– ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers ) reports that sales rose 0.3% week over week and 3.4% year over year, which is a pick up from recent weeks. Sales rose despite firmer gasoline prices. A special survey said that 56% of households are not reducing their discretionary spending up from 54% a month ago and 53% a year ago. July sales are projected to rise 3.0%
– Crude oil prices are higher as OPEC raised its forecast for demand by 100,000 to 31.1 million barrels per day in the 4th quarter.
– Macroeconomic Advisors has run a story suggesting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics missed 139,000 construction job layoffs.
Asia/Europe:
Asia:
– Tokyo condo sales have dropped 10.9% year over year.
– Japan’s Cabinet Office released a statement reporting that the economy is recovering despite weakness in industrial production.
– A key committee under China’s legislative body said that there is evidence that the economy is overheating and inflationary pressures are increasing, especially in food and housing prices. The report suggests that inflation could rise over 4%.
Europe:
– ECB’s, Garganas, sees further withdrawal of monetary accommodation.
– U.K. inflation slowed less than economists forecast in June after transport costs and furniture prices increased, cementing investors’ expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates further.
– The publisher of the new Harry Potter book said it canceled shipments to one of Britain’s largest supermarket chains, owned by Wal-Mart, in a dispute over unpaid bills.
Corporate News:
– Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) raked in more customer service fees and sold more products to boost its second-quarter profit by 9% and EPS of $0.67, even as more households struggled to pay their bills.
– Google Inc. (GOOG) is offering to run the search engines of small Web sites for as little as $100 per year, marking the company’s latest attempt to make more money off technology that already steers much of the Internet’s traffic.
– Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), the nation’s largest retail brokerage, said stronger investment banking results and fees from stock transactions boosted second-quarter profit by 30.2% from a year earlier and EPS of $2.24 versus expectations of $2.02.
– SLM Corp., the nation’s largest student lender whose $25 billion buyout is at risk of falling through, said that second-quarter earnings rose 33 percent on an increase in derivative and hedging activity.
– Novellus (NVLS) reported better than expected EPS and revenues.
– State Street (STT) reports solid profits of $1.07 versus expectations of $1.02.
– The Coca-Cola Co. (KO), the world’s largest beverage maker, posted a 1% profit increase for the second quarter on a solid 19 percent gain in sales.
– Chemical maker Basell said on it would buy Lyondell Chemical Co. for about $12.14 billion, giving it access to Lyondell’s commodity assets and refining capacity.
