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Current Futures: Dow +62.00, S&P +9.40, NASDAQ +14.75
European markets and U.S. futures are heading higher, as positive news continues to emerge from the financial sector.
S&P futures surged approximately 1% during the overnight session, propelled by the positive news coming from the financial sector during European trade. With these gains, the S&P futures market tested the 990.00 area during the European session, where the high of the current year sits as resistance. At the same time, almost every European stock market advanced on Monday, something that boosted the major regional indexes enough to test 9-months high.
Investor optimism received a strong boost after HSBC reported better than expected earnings results throughout the first half of the year. The bank announced a $3.3 billion profit, after the market had expected the bank to report a $500 million loss. A large part from the revenue came from the trading division, something that appears to be coming a trend lately, TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team said. Also during the European session, the U.K. based bank Barclays, said that the company had recorded a $3.0 billion profit during the first half of the year, however, that was $600 million less than the market had expected.
Similar to HSBC and all the other major banks, a considerable part of the Barclays revenue came from the investment divisions. During the session, unconfirmed rumors appeared in the equity market that UBS would not have to pay a fine in the U.S. tax evasion process. HSBC and UBS are up 5.80% and 6.70% respectively, while UBS is up 5.5%. All three companies are among Europe’s top gainers.
Following the strong results from the banking industry and the rumors surrounding UBS, the financial sector has led the gains in Europe. The commodity sector also posted some very strong gains in the U.K. FTSE index, after copper hit a 10-month high, and after UBS upgraded Petrofac to “buy”, something that allowed the company shares to surge almost 10%, being the FTSE’s top gainer.
Overnight, the U.K. FTSE gained 49.82 points (1.08%) to 4,658.18, while the German Dax rose 57.10 points (1.07%) to 5,389.24.
Crude oil for August delivery was recently trading at $70.60 per barrel, higher by $1.20.
Gold for August delivery was recently trading higher by $0.70 to $956.50.
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