Daily Market Review 28.07.2015

STOCKS 

If you haven’t already gotten your hands on the latest Apple Watch, you might be interested to know that soon you will be able to buy one from a Best Buy store. Last month, the tech giant started selling the latest smartwatch at its own stores and Apple (AAPL, -1.34%) has now announced that from August, customers will be able to purchase the device from one of over 100 Best Buy (BBY, -1.14%) stores based in the U.S. Before the holiday season, this will then be expanded to over 300 outlets but for now, Best Buy will be the only other major US retailer, besides Apple, who will sell the Apple Watch. With the latest news, the senior category officer at Best Buy, Jason Bonfig, said that their customers definitely want to purchase the Apple Watch and so it is an “important addition to an emerging product category”. Customers will be apple to purchase the Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Sport as well as a wide choice of straps and other accessories. For now, the gold-cased Apple Watch Edition model, which goes for a starting price of $10,000, will not be available at any Best Buy stores.

INDICES 

On Monday, U.S. stocks traded lower while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined by triple-digits. This tumble came in response to the decline experienced on the Chinese stock market which negatively impacted the main U.S. indices. Risky assets such as commodities and equities were sold off while investors turned to safe havens such as gold and Treasurys. Interestingly, overnight, the Shanghai Composite index (SHCOMP, -8.48%) closed 8.5 percent lower. This marked the index’s biggest one-day slide since February 2007. At the close of U.S. trading, 30 components of the blue chip index traded lower while the DJIA dropped 0.8%, or 135 points, to 17,433. Also on the downside was the S&P 500 index (SPX) which declined 0.5%, or 11 points, to 2,068. Losses were led by financial and energy stocks. Following the downward trend was the Nasdaq Composite index (COMP) which was also down 0.9%, or 46 points, at 5,042.

CURRENCIES 

On Monday, the U.S. dollar (USD) declined. This came despite positive economic data out of the U.S. however investors remain cautious as the Federal Reserve is expected to issue their policy statement this week. According to the Commerce Department in the U.S., the total orders for durable goods increased in June by 3.4%. This beat analysts’ expectations for an increase of only 3.0 percent. Also, for May, orders for durable goods were revised to a decline of 2.1%. In addition, the orders for core durable goods, which do not include volatile transportation items, increased in June by 0.8% which also beat expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent. Over the last few weeks, the greenback has remained supported by the expectation that the central bank could raise interest rates soon. Rates are expected to be raised in September this year, should the economy continue to improve as expected. The EUR/USD traded at 1.1095, up 1.01% to mark a 2-week high, while the GBP/USD traded at 1.5571, up 0.34%. Against the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar traded lower with the USD/JPY trading at 123.18, down 0.50%. Meanwhile, against the Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc, the USD traded lower with the USD/CAD down 0.18% at 1.3024 and with the USD/CHF down 0.61% and trading at 0.9568. The U.S. dollar index was at 96.58, down 0.78%.

COMMODITIES

In Asian trading on Tuesday, crude oil prices dropped. This came in response to the global supply glut with limited demand evident. WTI crude oil for September delivery traded at $47.16 a barrel, down 0.50%, on the NYMEX. With data from Baker Hughes last week regarding the number of active rigs in the U.S., U.S. crude futures extended their decline overnight on Monday, falling to a new 4-month low. According to the weekly report by Baker Hughes, the active oil rigs in the U.S. increased to 659, up by 21 rigs. Meanwhile on Monday, Brent crude oil for September delivery traded at $53.52 a barrel, down 2.01%, or $1.10, on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London. The spread between the U.S. and the international benchmarks of crude was at $6.08.

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