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The stock market is on course for a subdued start to the Friday session after a week that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reach fresh record highs.
The market received another batch of quarterly results since yesterday's closing bell, but there has been no market-wide response. Instead, the moves have been reserved to individual stocks. Intel (INTC) is on course for a lower start after delivering another weak report while Centene (CNC) is facing a continuation of this month's pressure after the company also missed earnings expectations for the quarter.
This morning's economic data was limited to Durable Orders for June, which fell 9.3% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus -11.0%) after an upwardly revised 16.5% jump in May (from 16.4%). Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were up 0.2% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) after rising a revised 0.6% (from 0.5%) in May.
The key takeaway from the report is that the sharp headline decrease was largely due to a drop in transportation equipment orders after a big jump in May, though nondefense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft—a proxy for business spending—fell 0.7% after increasing 2.0% in May, reflecting a moderation after a solid rise.
Overseas, expectations for an October rate hike from the Bank of Japan continued increasing and there was speculation that the BoJ could announce a surprise rate hike next week to get ahead of political uncertainty associated with the expected resignation of Prime Minister Ishiba.
Meanwhile, the European session saw growing expectations that the European Central Bank will not announce another rate cut until Q4 after yesterday's policy hold.
Today's news flow has been on the light side, though it is worth noting that President Trump said yesterday that he does not think it is necessary to fire Fed Chairman Powell. The comments were made after President Trump inspected the ongoing renovation of the Eccles Building.
Treasuries are down slightly with the 10-yr yield up two basis points at 4.42%, which leaves it down one basis point for the week.
