European stock markets are a mixed bag today as little has changed on the macro-economic front, and a few corporate earnings releases are driving volatility in individual equities. European markets continues to lag behind their American counterparts, and even Asia had a positive session overnight.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) shares are lower day despite revealing respectable figures for the first-half of the year. Underlying earnings more than doubled in comparison with the same period last year, but missed analysts’ expectations slightly. The company is using proceeds from asset sales to pay down debt and return cash to shareholders in the form of higher dividends and share buybacks. It is improving its debt to equity ratio and rewarding shareholders, and both are attractive to potential investors.
BAE Systems (LON:BAES) shares are in positive territory after the company registered an 11% jump in first-half earnings. Revenue for the period is up 9% and the interim dividend was upped by 2%. The company maintained its full-year guidance too. The share price has seen some volatile moves in recent years, but it has been in a steady upward trend, and with figures like the ones today the trend is likely to continue.
The EUR/USD moved higher overnight as the greenback softened. The US dollar has been in decline lately as traders think the Federal Reserve are unlikely to hike interest rates again this year. The jobless rate in Spain dropped by 26,000 in July, and this bodes well for the single currency.
We are anticipating the Dow Jones to open 37 points higher at 22,000, and we are calling the S&P 500 unchanged at 2476.
At 1.15pm, the US will announce the ADP jobs report and the consensus is for 185,000 jobs to have been added in July, and that compares with the 158,000 jobs that were added in June. Today’s report will set the tone for Friday’s non-farm payroll announcement.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will report their second-quarter figures tonight.
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