Today the economic calendar is packed with interesting events.
First off, Germany delivered better than expected unemployment data. The unemployment rate was 5.7% in July (versus a forecast of 5.8%), and unemployment changed by -91K, roughly three times more than anticipated.
Germany also published its preliminary inflation reports for July, which also outperformed the forecasts. Monthly, inflation rose to 0.9% against a forecast of 0.5%, while the YoY reading was 3.8% (vs. a forecast of 3.3%).
There were also various economic surveys from the eurozone as a whole. Both consumer and industrial sentiment in July were better than investors had hoped for, while the final consumer confidence report for July met the forecast of -4.4.
Meanwhile, the United States delivered a bit of a mixed batch of economic reports. The GDP growth rate in the second quarter of 2021 was considerably worse than anticipated at 6.5% against a forecast of 8.5%.
As for jobless data, continuing claims were higher than the forecasts, in another bad sign for the US labor market. Initial jobless claims were also higher than expected at 400K.
The only positive report from the United States today was inflation, where core PCE and the GDP price index both climbed to 6.1% in the second quarter.
Today US stock indices are to trade with a bit of a mixed bias again. Facebook and PayPal both reported good results yesterday, but warned of various difficulties they will be faced with from here on, which sent their stocks tumbling.
The biggest tech name to report earnings today is Amazon, which is expected to have done well in Q2, just like other tech giants like Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft did.
Chinese stocks are also a bit calmer today after the government announced that it will not be targeting all tech companies, and that the recent actions it took were directly tied to education (and making it more affordable for Chinese families), not the sector broadly.
