Summary:
- US500 little changed ahead of Wall Street open
- Price continues to oscillate around 2800
- Halliburton posts spike in revenues
US stock markets are expected to begin the new week not far from where they ended the last with index futures trading little changed on the day. The US500 has a relatively small trading range last time out with a narrowing range typical of a summer lull in the markets. Price continues to oscillate around the 2800 level, and while last week’s close was in fact the highest since early February, a break higher has failed to gain the requisite traction just yet.
The US500 had a quiet week last time out, with a narrow trading range typical of summer markets. Price continues to hover around 2800. Source: xStation
Political developments in the US continue to dominate the headlines of the financial press with much of last week focusing on Trump’s meeting with Putin. Tariffs remain an area of potential concern that has yet to have too big an impact on shares, but the longer the talk rolls on without an amicable solution the greater the threat to economic growth, and that should start to weigh on price.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie DImon offered his views on tariffs during a recent interview on CNN Money, saying that their implementation threatens to negate the economic boosts the country has received from other policies IE tax cuts. “If you do another $200 billion of tariffs and this national security thing about cars, I think that you’re getting pretty close to reversing some of the benefits you’ve seen in the economy,” Dimon told CNN.
Turning our attention to earnings, there’s been more firms in the US reporting their latest trading results today with Halliburton arguably the standout. The Houston -based oilfield service provider posted a 24% jump in revenue thanks to higher oil prices which have encouraged US oil and gas producers to put more rigs to work.
Halliburton is trading lower on the year as the stock has moved back to find some support around the 44 handle. Source: xStation
The company’s total revenue rose to $6.15b from $4.96b previously. Net profit also rose to 58 cents per share for Q2 from 3 cents a year earlier. Despite the seemingly strong results the stock is trading a little lower in the pre-market, perhaps due to the improvement in the figures being widely expected thanks to the rally in crude over the past 12 months.
It’s another busy week ahead of earnings releases with tech giants Alphabet and Facebook among the standout companies reporting. Source: Earnings Whispers