The S&P 500 Futures are on the upside after they closed mixed on Friday. On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the government to reconcile remaining disputes on stimulus legislation within 48 hours in an attempt to pass a bill before the 2020 election.
Later today, the National Association of Home Builders will release Housing Market Index for October (83 expected).
European indices opened on a positive mood before turning down. Euronext trading was suspended in all products due to technical issues before resuming at midday.
Asian indices closed in the green except the Chinese CSI as China’s 3Q GDP grew 4.9% on year (+5.5% expected), while industrial production rose 6.9% in September (+5.8% expected) and retail sales increased 3.3% (+1.7% expected). Japan’s exports fell 4.9% on year in September (-2.4% expected) and imports declined 17.2% (-21.4% on year expected).
WTI Crude Oil futures are consolidating. The total number of rotary rigs in the U.S. rose to 282 as of October 16 from 269 in the prior week, while rigs in Canada were unchanged at 80, according to Baker Hughes.
Gold gains ground on U.S stimulus hopes while the U.S dollar retreated as Asian currencies edged higher on China’s GDP.
Gold gained 12.96 dollars (+0.68%) to 1912.25 dollars.
The dollar index fell 0.33pt to 93.355.
U.S. Equity Snapshot
ConocoPhillips (COP), an energy exploration and production company, has concluded an agreement to acquire Concho Resources (CXO) in an all-stock transaction valued at 9.7 billion dollars. “Under the terms of the transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company, each share of Concho Resources common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 1.46 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock, representing a 15 percent premium to closing share prices on October 13.The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.”
Snap (SNAP)’s, the social media, price target was raised to 35 dollars from 29 dollars at KeyBanc.
Halliburton (HAL), the oil and gas services company, reported third quarter sales down 46% to 2.98 billion dollars, below estimates. Adjusted operating income was down 49% to 275 million dollars, above expectations.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a global processor of agricultural commodities, was upgraded to “overweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan.