April New Car Sales Almost Halved-Marks Single Largest Decrease of Any Month Since 1991 

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 15.61 points or 0.49 per cent higher at 3,170.83, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 305.92 points or 1.17 per cent higher at 26,391.72, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 10,393.37, up by 2.53 points or 0.02 per cent against the previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 11:45 AM ET).

US Market News: The Wall Street traded in green as the US banks reported the second-quarter earnings. Meanwhile, the US budget deficit touched USD 864 billion in June 2020, which reflected a budget deficit of USD 2.74 trillion for nine months for the current fiscal period that started in October 2019. Among the gaining stocks, Ford Motors was up by close to 3.7 percent after the company announced the launch of Bronco a new off-road jeep. Tesla was up by about 1.5 percent after it announced that it would cut costs for Y models. Similarly, JP Morgan Chase inched up by about 0.60 percent after the company reported quarterly profit better than the street consensus. Among the decliners, Wells Fargo plunged by close to 6.1 percent after the company reported a loss of USD 2.4 billion in the second quarter and made a provision of USD 9.5 billion for credit losses. Delta Airline’s shares were down by 3.5 percent after the company reported that it would take over two years to see recovery in airline travel. Amazon was down by 1.7 percent after the company announced that it is launching grocery carts to help customers skip checkout lines at grocery stores.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Three Performers*: HanesBrands Inc (HBI), Xylem Inc (XYL), and First Republic Bank (FRC) stocks jumped by 6.59 per cent, 5.32 per cent and 3.34 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), Netflix Inc (NFLX) and Mohawk Industries Inc (MHK) shares decreased by 6.22 per cent, 5.62 per cent and 5.51 per cent, respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Elite Three Performers*: INmune Bio Inc (INMB), Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (RIGL) and IMV Inc (IMV) shares traded in the green zone and expanded by 125.65 per cent, 81.02 per cent and 76.33 per cent, respectively.

Worst Three Performers*: Equillium Inc (EQ), WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc (WIMI) and Osmotica Pharmaceuticals (OSMT) shares contracted by 38.85 per cent, 30.96 per cent and 22.15 per cent, respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Consumer Non-Cyclicals (+0.62 per cent), Telecommunications Services (+0.60 per cent) and Utilities (+0.55 per cent).

Top Worst Sectors*: Consumer Cyclicals (-2.60 per cent), Technology (-2.10 per cent), and Healthcare (-1.09 per cent).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Best Three Performers*: Travelers Companies Inc (TRV), Chevron Corp (CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) shares were in bright spot and surged by around 1.94 per cent, 1.80 per cent and 1.50 per cent, respectively.

Worst Three Performers*: Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Intel Corp (INTC) and Apple Inc (AAPL) shares plunged by 2.06 per cent, 1.38 per cent and 1.21 per cent, respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 3.56 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 6,179.75, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 210.40 points or 1.21 per cent lower at 17,174.69, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 5.92 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 3,417.14, respectively. Another European index STOXX 600 decreased by 3.10 points or 0.84 per cent, at 367.40. Among other major European indices, CAC 40 index decreased by 48.77 points or 0.97 per cent and ended the trading session at 5,007.46; DAX index closed the session at 12,697.36, down by 102.61 points or 0.80 per cent.

European News: London and European markets retreated after fears of the second wave of Covid-19. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics released the data according to which the UK GDP grew by 1.8 percent in May 2020 after declining by 20.3 percent in April 2020. Among the gaining stocks, British Telecom was up by 4.4 percent after the UK government announced that it would ban Huawei from the UK’s 5G network. Phoenix Group shares were up by close to 1.7 percent after the company introduced drawdown option to its Standard Life Assurance Trust. Among the decliners, Halma shed around 5.3 percent after the company announced that it expects lower sales and earnings in FY2021. Ocado was down by 2.8 percent despite reporting an increase in revenue over the last six months. Similarly, EasyJet was down by nearly 1.9 percent after the company received shareholder’s nod for issue of new shares.

London Stock Exchange

Top Three Performers*: PREMIER OIL PLC (PMO), MCBRIDE PLC (MCB) and LUCECO PLC (LUCE) accelerated significantly by 7.12 per cent, 7.00 per cent and 5.62 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: MITIE GROUP PLC (MTO), AMIGO HOLDINGS PLC (AMGO) and AO WORLD PLC (AO.) plunged by 42.74 per cent, 12.79 per cent and 12.44 per cent, respectively.

FTSE 100 Index Performance

3 months FTSE 100 Index Performance (14 July 2020), before the market close (Source: Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters)

Best three Gainers*: BT GROUP PLC (LON: BT.A), IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC (LON:IMB) & ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC (LON:RDSA) leapt up by 4.19 per cent, 2.31 per cent and 2.08 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: SCOTTISH MORTGAGE INVESTMENT (LON:SMT), HALMA PLC (LON:HLMA) and JD SPORTS FASHION PLC (LON: JD.) traded in the red zone and decreased by 7.40 per cent, 6.02 per cent and 5.05 per cent, respectively.

Stocks traded with decent volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE PLC.

Top Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Telecommunications Services (+2.08 per cent), Energy (+1.63 per cent), and Utilities (+0.28 per cent).

Top Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Technology (-2.31 per cent), Consumer Cyclicals (-2.13 per cent), and Industrials (-1.85 per cent).

Crude Oil Future Prices*: WTI crude oil (future) price and Brent future crude oil (future) price was hovering at $40.25 per barrel and $42.80 per barrel, respectively.

Forex Rates*: GBP to USD and EUR to GBP were trading at 1.2554 and 0.9074, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasury yield and UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was tilting at 0.618 per cent and 0.151 per cent, respectively.

*At the time of writing