Bloomberg:
- Sluggish Global Sales Damp U.S. Earnings From Caterpillar(CAT) to 3M(MMM). Sluggish international markets are damping earnings at U.S. industrials giants. Caterpillar Inc., the largest manufacturer of construction and mining machinery, cut its full-year sales forecast Thursday, saying important end-user industries remain weak. 3M Co. reduced the top end of its 2015 profit and revenue, citing lower-than-expected global economic growth. The earnings season has been spotty for U.S. companies so far. Earnings per share at Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies probably slumped 5.3 percent in the second quarter, according to analysts’ estimates, weighed down by tumbling oil and commodities prices and slow global economic growth. Excluding the energy industry, S&P 500 profits rose just 1.5 percent, analysts estimate.
- ECB Deadline Looms for Greece as the Troika Heads Back to Athens. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s 4 a.m. win in Parliament sets the clock ticking on yet another make-or-break deadline: this time it’s Aug. 20, when Greece has to make its next major payment to the European Central Bank.
- Japan’s Debt Risks Surge to Triple GDP Without Change, IMF Says. Japan’s debt is unsustainable and could climb to almost three times the size of its economy by 2030 unless the government does more to cut its budget, the International Monetary Fund said. The government should consider rules to curb spending, limits on extra budgets and independent assessments of its projections, the IMF said. Reliance on optimistic economic assumptions risks harming confidence in its plan to put the budget into surplus, excluding interest payments, by 2020, according to a report released on Thursday in Washington.
- Real Slumps to Four-Month Low Amid Brazilian Budget Capitulation. Brazil’s real sank to a four-month low and led global declines after the government said it will fail to meet its fiscal targets, adding to concern the nation is facing a credit downgrade. The real dropped 1.9 percent to 3.2866 per dollar at 1:03 p.m. in Sao Paulo, the weakest level on a closing basis since March 19. The decline was the biggest among 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
- This Dollar Chart Is Bad News for Emerging Markets. (graph) Commodities crash or credit crunch, a rising U.S. dollar doesn’t look good for EM. If history is any guide, emerging markets are headed for trouble as the dollar strengthens.
- Emerging Stocks, Currencies Drop on Fed Outlook After Jobs. Emerging-market stocks and currencies fell for a second day as a plunge in U.S. jobless claims bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to increase the near-zero interest rates that have supported demand for riskier assets. The real sank to a 12-year low as Brazil’s finance minister lowered the government’s fiscal target, adding to concern the nation is facing a credit downgrade. OAO Gazprom led Russian energy producers lower as oil traded near the lowest level in three months. Turkish stocks and the lira declined amid more violence near the Syrian border. Chinese stocks rose for a sixth day and volatility fell as traders bet government intervention to support equities is working. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.7 percent to 924.35 at 11:30 a.m. in New York.
- European Stocks Decline as Energy Drop Outweighs Credit Suisse. (video) European stocks fell for a third day as a decline in energy shares outweighed better-than-expected results from Credit Suisse Group AG and Unilever. Oil-and-gas stocks contributed the most to the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s drop, with BP Plc retreating 1.4 percent. Credit Suisse rose 6.2 percent after quarterly profit beat estimates. Unilever climbed 1.6 percent after the maker of Magnum ice cream reported higher-than-forecast sales growth. The Stoxx 600 slid 0.5 percent to 398.1 at the close of trading, after earlier rising as much as 0.6 percent. The volume of shares changing hands was 18 percent lower than the 30-day average.
- Jobs Machine From Canada Oil Slows as Robots Add to Price Slump. In addition to the market rout, the father of two now worries about the self-driving trucks Suncor Energy Inc. is rolling out in its oil-sands mining operations that will replace workers like him to save companies money.
- World’s Top Iron-Ore Miner Presses on Output as Price Slide. Vale SA boosted iron-ore production last quarter to the second-highest ever for the company, exceeding analyst estimates and worsening a supply glut that saw prices of the steelmaking ingredient collapse. Iron-ore output rose 7.4 percent to 85.3 million metric tons in the quarter through June 30, compared with 79.4 million tons a year ago, the company said in a statement Thursday. The result, which excludes third-party purchases and operations at a venture with BHP Billiton Plc, topped the 82.5 million-ton average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
- Oil Warning: The Crash Could Be the Worst in More Than 45 Years. (video) There's only one thing holding back a price rebound. It's a big thing. Morgan Stanley has been pretty pessimistic about oil prices in 2015, drawing comparisons with the some of the worst oil slumps of the past three decades. The current downturn could even rival the iconic price crash of 1986, analysts had warned—but definitely no worse. This week, a revision: It could be much worse.
- Moody’s Says Low Oil Price Here to Stay as Russia Bleeds Capital. Low oil prices are just the tip of what ails Russia, according to Moody’s Investors Service. With its dependence on commodities and a slump in investment, Russia will have a hard time recovering from its record economic slump as global oil prices are bound to remain lower for a long time, Yves Lemay, managing director in the sovereign risk group at Moody’s in London, said in an interview on Wednesday. As much as a quarter of Russia’s gross domestic product and two-thirds of its exports are linked to the energy industry, according to the rating company.
- Oil Rigs Left Idling Turn Caribbean Into Expensive Parking Lot. Imagine parking your $300 million boat for months out in the open sea, with well-paid mechanics hovering around it and the engine running. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea have become a garage for deepwater drillships -- at a cost of about $70,000 a day each. It’s either that or send your precious rig to a scrapyard. The dilemma underscores how an offshore industry that geared up for an oil boom is grappling with a bust.
- Nikkei to Buy Pearson's FT for $1.3 Billion. (video) After almost six decades of stewardship of one of Britain’s most storied institutions -- the Financial Times -- Pearson Plc is selling the business daily to Japan’s biggest financial news group.
ZeroHedge:
Telegraph:
- Why 'whatever it takes’ just isn’t going to work for the euro anymore. The trouble is that, while solving a financial crisis, Mario Draghi created an economic one.
Deutschlandfunk:
- German Lawmaker 'Skeptical' About Greek Reforms. German lawmaker Gunther Krichbaum says he's "skeptical" that Greek reform steps passed in parliament will be fully implemented, citing an interview. Negotiations with Greek govt about a third bailout program will be "very, very difficult," outcome is open. Says he's skeptical that Greek govt will take "ownership" of reform steps, citing comments by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that govt was forced to agree to reforms it doesn't believe in.
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