US Week Ahead: A Hectic Week on Data & Earnings

Despite a rather hectic week of economic releases; earnings news will likely steal the show this week. Big names on the earnings calendar this week include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, GE, Intel, Google, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson. However, a recent mixture of good and bad economic news, including decreasing consumer sentiment, rising unemployment, and dreadful retail sales have raised concerns over the potential for a prolonged recession. Therefore, it’s important we pay close attention to Tuesday’s retail sales and PPI data, Wednesday’s CPI and industrial production data, and finally Thursday’s jobless claims number, all of which have the potential to move the market in one direction or another. Here is the remainder of the calendar:

Monday July 13^th:

2:00PM: Treasury Budget (Risk: Upside, Market Reaction: Marginal): The current Bloomberg consensus for the Treasury’s monthly budget report is –US$97bn compared to –USD187.7bn a month prior. These large deficits have been fueled by TARP expenditures and buying federal housing agency debt. But, several companies have recently paid back TARP funds, which will likely reduce the level of this month’s deficit.

Tuesday July 14^th:

7:45AM: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Marginal): This weekly index tracks aggregate store sales across major US retailers, accounting for roughly 10% of total retail sales. Given recent data supporting an increasing US saving rates and a worsening employment situation, this index could face some downward pressure. Last week’s number indicated a 0.1% increment in store sales over the previous week.

8:30AM: Producer Price Index (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Moderate/Significant): Higher energy prices and a small increment in food prices will likely lead to a higher headline number for the PPI, while core-PPI should remain relatively unchanged. According to Bloomberg the current consensus forecast for the PPI and core-PPI is 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively. Any significant upward surprise in this index could amplify rhetoric among inflation hawks. This index is considered a forward looking indicator to profits and the CPI.

8:30AM: Retail Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): The effect of higher gasoline prices in June could cause retail sales to surprise to the upside. But, factoring out gas, recent weakness in other sales indicators imply that June’s sales data will be flat to negative. According to Bloomberg the current market consensus for retail sales and retail sales-ex autos is 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively. Retail sales plunged at the end of last year and have essentially remained flat this year.

10:00AM: Business Inventories (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): On the back of a decline in wholesale inventories, business inventories will likely decline again in June after declining the previous eight months. Look for auto and retail inventories to continue their decline. According to Bloomberg the current market consensus for business inventories is a monthly change of -0.8%. The good news is that with inventory levels so low once a recovery does begin we could see a jump in manufacturing as companies look to replenish their stocks.

Wednesday July 15^th:

7:00AM: MBA Purchase Applications (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index, which tracks new mortgage applications tends to be a reasonable forward looking indicator for home sales, but issues including customers filling out numerous applications could skew the index. Last week the purchase index rose 6.7%, while the refinance index increased by 15.2% on the back of relatively low mortgage rates.

8:30AM: Consumer Price Index--CPI (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Significant): As with the PPI, a recent rise in energy prices will likely add some upward pressure on the headline index, while core CPI should remain relatively constant relative to last month. According to Bloomberg the current consensus forecast for the CPI and core-CPI is 0.7% and 0.1%, respectively. Any significant upward surprise in this index could amplify rhetoric among inflation hawks; the inverse is true with a downward surprise.

8:30AM: Empire State Manufacturing Survey (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index tracks manufacturing activity in New York state across 175 different companies in a variety of industries. Recent weakness in the overall manufacturing sector will likely add some downside pressure to July’s release. According to Bloomberg, the current market consensus for the general business conditions index is -4.5, compared to -9.4 a month prior. It will be important to monitor the general business conditions, new orders, and prices paid components of the index, all of which were negative last month. Conversely, the future general business conditions index rose last month.

9:15AM: Industrial Production (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Significant): Continued weakness in manufacturing sector will likely add downward pressure to the overall index. According to Bloomberg, the current market consensus for June’s IP is a monthly change of -0.7% with a capacity utilization rate of 67.8%. In June capacity utilization stood at 68.3%, or 12.6% below its 1972-2008 average.

10:30AM: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic petroleum inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

2:00PM: FOMC Minutes (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Given the three week lag between the FOMC meeting and the release of the minutes this should have only a marginal effect on trading. But, the minutes could elaborate the rationale behind the FOMC’s decision, and give some clues to future decisions, in which case the market could move on the release.

Thursday July 16^th:

8:30AM: Jobless Claims (Risk: Upside, Market Reaction: Significant): Last week’s better than expected initial jobless claims may have been exaggerated by inaccurate seasonal adjustment factors stemming from the timing of automotive and other manufacturing lay-offs, which could be repeated this week. According to Bloomberg the current consensus for initial jobless claims stand at 535K, compared to 565K last week. Although, I do believe we will continue to see a downward trend in the number of new claims, the level last week's number implied is too optimistic.

9:00AM: Treasury International Capital Data (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This data highlights the flow of financial instruments to and from the US. Thus, indicating foreign demand for US financial instruments, which tends to have a stronger impact on the dollar and bond markets compared to equities.

10:00AM: Philly Fed Survey (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Moderate): This index, which tracks manufacturing activity within the Philly Fed’s district, is correlated to both the ISM and Industrial production indices. According to Bloomberg the current market consensus for the general business conditions index is -5.0 versus -2.2 a month prior. Continued weakness in manufacturing will likely place downward pressure on this index.

10:00AM: EIA Natural Gas Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic natural gas inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

1:00PM: Housing Market Index (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Moderate): The housing market index, published by the National Association of Home Builders, indicates the demand for housing combined with consumer sentiment towards the housing market. The index is calculated by using a weighted average of the following indices; present sales of new homes, sale of new homes expected in the next six months, and traffic of prospective buyers in new homes. Increasing unemployment coupled with waning consumer confidence could place some downward pressure on this index.

4:30PM: Fed Balance Sheet & Money Supply (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Since the Fed’s shift to quantitative easing, the balance sheet has become one method to measure to the Fed’s effectiveness. The market will pay close attention to the reserve bank credit component, which measures factors supplying providing reserves into the banking system. Last week the Fed’s balance sheet shrunk to $1.977 trillion from $1.989 trillion the previous week.

Friday July 17^th:

8:30AM: Housing Starts (Risk: Downside, Market Reaction: Marginal/Moderate): After experiencing an unexpected bump in May housing starts are likely to decline in June. According to Bloomberg the current market consensus for starts is 530K, compared to 532K last month. Weak demand for homes will likely place downward pressure on this index.

Have a good weekend!

China's June Exports Fall 21.4%y/y in June

Chinese exports continued struggling in June falling 21.4% y/y compared to analysts' estimates of 21.0%, and a 26.4% y/y drop in May. Continued declines in exports are being offset by increased domestic demand, which is heavily bolstered by the country's stimulus package. According to Bloomberg, China's Premier Wen Jiabao believes the foundation for China's economic recovery is not yet set and they will continue on a course of easy monetary policy and pro-active fiscal policy.

A continued decline in Chinese exports is a bad omen for shipping rates. Shipping rates over the last several months have been supported almost exclusively by China's record importation of raw materials. Without a return of global demand for Chinese goods, many of these raw materials are just sitting in inventories one way or another. Thus, it is highly likely that China's demand for raw materials will begin to wain. But, presently it appears Chinese iron imports rose 3.4% in June to 55.3mn tons. However, this could be caused by a lag effect of massive congestion of vessels waiting to unload off the coast of China, or possibly increased imports from India via land. Supporting this view is that one of China's primary ports actually reported a 12% drop in ore imports from the previous month. In either case, I anticipate that this number will fall in the coming months.

Initial Claims Come in Better than Expected

Initial Claims finished came in this morning at 565K versus the previous week's reading of 614K and a consensus forecast of 610K. I believe the improvement may have been exaggerated by inaccurate seasonal adjustment factors stemming from the timing of automotive and other manufacturing lay-offs, which could be repeated next week. Although, I do believe we will continue to see a downward trend in the number of new claims, the level this week's number (and possibly next week's) indicates is too optimistic.

Conversely, continuing jobless claims rose 159,000 to a high of 6.883mn. This increase is primarily due to the lag effect of recently high initial claims coupled with the fact that the unemployed workforce has been unable to find new jobs.

Alcoa's Earnings Come in Above Consensus Estimates

Kicking of the 2Q09 earnings season Alcoa (AA) reported a loss yesterday of US$0.26/share compared to analysts’ average estimate of US$0.38/share. The company accredited the better than expected result to workforce reductions and production cuts. CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said in a statement, “Alcoa has the staying power and reduced cost base to withstand the most serious downturn in the history of the aluminum industry.” Alcoa showed marginal gains in after-hours trading on the news.

MBA Purchase Applications Composite Index Up 10.9%

The MBA The Market Composite Index rose 10.9% the week ending July 3rd 2009. The purchase index rose 6.7%, while the refinancing component climbed 15.2%, on the back of relatively favorable interest rates. Remember this index could be skewed by lenders filling out multiple applications, and I would like to see a continued trend in the index before rushing to any conclusions on the housing sector. The 4wk moving average of the market index is still down by 5.6%.

ICSC-Goldman Store Sales-- Shows Growth, But Redbook Says Otherwise

ICSC-Goldman Store Sales demonstrated a week over week increase of 0.1% and a year over year increase of 0.5% during the holiday week. This likely won't have much effect on today's trading. But, the Redbook, which was released at 8:55AM showed a 4.2% y/y decline in same store sales, which continues to indicate the retail sector remains depressed. Chain stores will be reporting sales later this week.

ICSC-Goldman Store Sales

Source: Bloomberg

Redbook Results:

Year-over-year: Week (w/e 7/04/09 vs year ago)        -4.2 pct
Year-over-year:Month (June 2009 vs June 2008)         -4.4 pct
Month-over-month: (June 2009 vs May 2009)             -4.3 pct
Source: Reuters

Non-Manufacturing ISM 47.0 vs Consensus Forecast of 46.7

The Non-Manufacturing ISM came in at 47 compared to the consensus forecast of 46.7. This signifies the sector is still contracting, but at a slower pace than in May, which had a reading of 44.0. This was the index's best showing in 9 months. The new orders index, which tends to be forward looking rose by 4.2 percentage points to 48.6. The prices index showed the sharpest increase of 6.8 percentage points to 53.7 percent in June. This is the prices index first positive reading since October 2008. This should help to quell any ongoing fears of deflation, but could help to put concerns over inflation back on the table.

The following six industries reported growth in the survey (in order of magnitude): Real Estate, Rental & Leasing; Arts, Entertainment & Recreation; Accommodation & Food Services; Finance & Insurance; Construction; and Information.

The following 11 industries reported contractions in the survey (in order of magnitude): Mining; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting; Wholesale Trade; Transportation & Warehousing; Retail Trade; Management of Companies & Support Services; Public Administration; Health Care & Social Assistance; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Educational Services; and Other Services.