Putin Comments Trump Flat Germany GDP

Economic Data

- (ZA) South Africa Jun Total Mining Production M/M: -1.4% v -2.1%e; Y/Y: -5.7% v -5.8%e; Gold Production Y/Y: -1.2% v -2.1% prior; Platinum Production Y/Y: -37.2% v -48.8% prior
- (PT) Portugal Q2 Labour Costs Y/Y: +3.1% v -1.4% prior
- (IE) Ireland Jun Trade Balance: €3.4B v €3.3B prior
- (RU) Russia Gold and Forex Reserve w/e Aug 8th: $468.6B v $468.4B prior
- (BR) Brazil Jun Retail Sales M/M: -0.7% v +0.4%e; Y/Y: 0.8% v 3.5%e; Broad Retail Sales Y/Y: -6.1% v -2.0%e
- (PL) Poland July M3 Money Supply M/M: 0.7% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 6.2% v 5.5%e
- (PL) Poland July CPI Core M/M: 0.0% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.4%e
- (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 311K v 295Ke; Continuing Claims: 2.544M v 2.51Me
- (US) July Import Price Index M/M: -0.2% v -0.3%e; Y/Y: 0.8% v 0.8%e
- (CA) Canada Jun New Housing Price Index M/M: 0.2% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: 1.5% v 1.5% prior
- (BE) Belgium Jun Trade Balance: -€22.8M v -€146.3M prior
- (US) Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventories: +78 bcf v +80-84 bcf expected range

- Russia President Putin dragged European stock indices out of the red this morning after the very poor Germany GDP report. Putin said his government would do "all it can" to stop the conflict in Ukraine and asserted that Russia should not isolate itself from the outside world. As of writing, the DJIA is up 0.10%, the S&P500 is up 0.46% and the Nasdaq is up 0.18%.

- Shares of Cisco have fallen further this morning, bottoming out down 3.5% before ticking a bit higher. Analysts met the firm's tepid fourth-quarter performance and flattish first-quarter guidance without much enthusiasm. This also marks the second consecutive round of sizable job cuts that were announced along with FY-end earnings.

- Walmart whiffed in second quarter earnings out this morning. Profits and revenue just met expectations on very faint growth, comps were flat, and the firm trimmed its FY15 earnings guidance. Note that Wal-Mart's small format Neighborhood Markets saw a 5.6% increase in and a 4.1% increase in traffic. Shares of WMT are flat on the day. Kohls EPS beat expectations even as comps turned negative, with shares up 2% but off their highs. Advance Auto Parts raised its FY14 forecast, saw positive comps in its second quarter and beat on earnings. AAP is up 2%.

- Among the biggest gainers this morning was Plug Power, with shares up 10% as of the first minutes of trading. Shares of PLUG have lost altitude mid morning, up only 5% as of writing. The small-cap fuel cell name saw shipments more than double y/y. Among the worst losers is Red Robin, with shares down 20% and not budging after the fast casual dining firm widely missed earnings and revenue expectations.

- Image sensor firm OmniVision received a non-binding proposal from Hua Capital Management for $29/shr in cash, valuing the company at $1.64 billion. The board said it was considering the offer. 

Looking Ahead

- 11:15 (BR) Brazil to sell 2015, 2016 and 2018 Bills
- 11:15 (BR) Brazil to Sell Floating-rate 2020 Notes
- 12:00 (IS) Iceland July International Reserves (ISK): No est v 481B prior
- 13:00 (US) Treasury to sell $16B in 30-Year Bonds
- 14:00 (MX) Mexico Central Bank Gov Carlstens with President Nieto in Veracuz
- 18:00 (CL) Chile Central Bank Interest Rate Decision: Expected to cut Overnight Rate Target by 25bps to 3.50%
- (CO) Colombia Monetary Policy Minutes