Daily Market Review 30.06.2015

STOCKS 

General Motors No Longer NFL Sponsor: On Monday, it was announced that General Motors Co. (GM, +0.15%) has been replaced by Hyundai Motor Co. (005380, +1.12%) as an official sponsor of the National Football League (NFL). This means that the Korean car maker now has access to some of the most viewed sports events in the U.S. which include the NFL playoffs as well as the Super Bowl. Hyundai has not revealed how much they paid for this 4-year deal with NFL. In a statement issued on Monday, Hyundai commented that the company would now use the NFL trademarks across a variety of marketing channels. This would also include promotional materials, advertising and branded content. NFL currently has a fan base of 188 million people and the car maker will also ensure that they provide promotional cars for all major events throughout the year, including the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, General Motors also released a statement confirming that they had decided not to renew their NFL sponsorship and that their focus would now be directed on using these sponsorship resources in other areas. Added to this, the General Motors brand does currently have 7-year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United, the English soccer team, while the company also sponsors the Major League Baseball since 2005. General Motors is currently trading at $33.22 a share.

 

INDICES

On Monday, U.S. stocks ended lower with the S&P 500 index (SPX) suffering its worst one-day drop so far this year. This came in response to the unsuccessful debt negotiations in Greece which has now placed the country on the brink of fiscal collapse. Over the weekend, the negotiations between Greece and its creditors collapsed again and as a result, the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, called for a referendum on whether to accept reform measures demanded by the country’s lenders. This referendum will now take place on the 5th of July. As a result, the SPX declined 2.1%, or 43.85 points, to 2,057.64. The benchmark index has now turned negative for the year and it has also fallen below a key technical support level. Analysts have suggested that we can expect to see further declines. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) also saw its largest 1-day drop in more than 2 years when the blue chip index declined 2%, or 350.33 points, to 17,596.35. Following the downward trend was the Nasdaq Composite index (COMP) which also declined 2.4%, or 122.42 points, to 4,958.47.

CURRENCIES 

In currency trading on Monday, the U.S. dollar (USD) pared gains against other currencies. This came despite the fact that data showed that in the month of May, pending home sales rose to their highest level since 2006. Meanwhile, concerns regarding the Greece debt crisis seemed to ease. According to the National Association of Realtors, in May, their pending home sales index increased by 0.9 percent. This missed expectations for an increase of 1.2% while pending home sales in April rose by 2.7 percent. The EUR/USD traded at 1.1149, down 0.13% while the GBP/USD traded at 1.5726, down 0.15 percent. Against the currencies in Canada, Switzerland and Japan, the greenback traded mixed with USD/CAD up 0.67% at 1.2404, with USD/CHF down 0.43% at 0.9288 and with USD/JPY down 0.80% and trading at 122.85. Also, the U.S. dollar index held steady at 95.60.

COMMODITIES 

On Tuesday, crude oil prices declined in early Asian trade. This came as investors shifted their focus to the U.S. stockpiles report due out later today which will provide more insight into the supply and demand of the commodity. WTI crude oil for delivery in August traded at $58.26 a barrel, down 0.13 percent, on the NYMEX. Meanwhile, on Monday, Brent crude oil for delivery in August traded at $61.98 a barrel, down 2.02%, or $1.28, on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London. Today, the API (American Petroleum Institute) will release its survey of stockpiles from the end of last week on crude and refined products stocks in the U.S.

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