Wednesday August 12, 2020 Trading Desk: (312) 236-8907
TODAY’S GAME PLAN: from the trading desk, this is not research
DATA/HEADLINES: 8:00ET Fed’s Rosengren speaks; 8:30ET Consumer Price Index, Core CPI; 10:00ET Fed’s Kaplan speaks; 1:00ET 10 Year Note Auction; 3:00ET Fed’s Daly speaks
US JUL CONSUMER PRICES +0.6%; CONSENSUS +0.3%
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
- Biden and Harris will make their first appearance as a ticket in Delaware today
- Kamala Harris will face Mike Pence in the only scheduled vice-presidential debate on Oct. 7
- U.K. reported a 20.4% plunge in GDP, the largest contraction since records began in 1955
- The Federal Reserve announced a 50 bps cut to the interest rate on its Municipal Liquidity Facility after the program only made one loan since it was announced in April
- New Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has ordered operational changes and a clampdown on overtime in a bid to fix the financially troubled service, which reported a net loss of $2.2 billion in the last quarter
- VIACOMCBS: CHAIRMAN EMERITUS SUMNER REDSTONE DIES
EQUITIES:
U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday following a pullback in the previous session, as resilient fuel demand drove up oil prices, while investors remained on edge due to a stalemate over the next coronavirus federal aid bill. U.S. equity futures rebounded from Tuesdays late drop on chatter ahead of Biden’s VP pick where there was some talk that it would be Liz Warren. It was the first decline for the S&P 500 in eight days after the index came within 0.15% of its closing record high. Nasdaq 100 futures also climbed after three sessions of declines for the tech-heavy index. The energy sector is leading pre-market gains with XOP +1.6% essentially erasing all of yesterday’s loss. With a better-than-feared second-quarter earnings season largely over, attention will turn to the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
E-Mini S&P is up 0.7%, Nasdaq +0.8%, Russell 2000 futures +1%, Dow futures +0.95%. SPX has initial key resistance at 3369.
