Asia
Stock markets in Asia were barely changed on Wednesday with a lack of momentum from US indices overnight and a calming in the geopolitical sphere. In Japan the economic calendar was light, with the Nikkei closing slightly lower and the Topix largely unchanged. China received a warning from the IMF about the dangers of its credit bubble turning into a full-blown crisis. The CSI 300 was just in positive territory at the close, at 3701.42.
On the 70th birthday of its independence, Indian shares rallied – the BSE Sensex was over 300 points higher at 31,754.02, a gain of more than 1%.
Europe
Positive news has been emerging of late from the Eurozone, and today’s GDP numbers were no exception – the currency Bloc economies grew by 2.2% year on year in the second quarter, higher than the 2.1% in the first quarter. The news followed a better-than-expected outturn for the Italian economy, which rose 1.5% in Q2, against 1.2% in the first quarter. Italy’s FTSE MIB index was up over 1% at nearly 22,000 in late morning trading – having started the year around 19,500. German and French indices were nearly 1% higher.
UK unemployment data was the standout economics release on Wednesday. Today’s news of higher earnings and employment followed yesterday’s stable inflation number.
Two of the largest FTSE 100 companies reporting today had contrasting fortunes when publishing earnings – Admiral (ADM) shares slumped 7% as it warned of a rise in personal injury claims, despite increasing profits, customers and revenues over the period. Balfour Beatty (BBY) shares were up 7% by 11am BST after it posted a doubling of first-half profits to £22 million. By midmorning the FTSE 100 was up over 0.6% at 7434 points.
North America
Federal Reserve minutes from July are Wednesday’s highlight on the economic calendar. Markets will be watching for the Fed’s views on inflation, which is currently lagging forecasts, the labour market. The timing of the next rate rise will also be under scrutiny. The minutes follow Tuesday's release from the New York Fed on rising personal debt, and ahead of Thursday's manufacturing report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank.
In terms of US earnings, Cisco (CSCO), Target (TGT), Staples (SPLS) will be reporting. In Canada, Novadaq Technologies (NDQ) and Leucrotta Exploration (LXE) are reporting earnings.