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23:56 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Sentiment among Japanese manufacturers turned positive and that bodes well for the economy in the next 3-6 months, says Ed Rogers, CEO of Rogers Investment Advisors. He tells CNBC's Oriel Morrison & Adam Bakhtiar more.

21:56 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Manufacturing growth from China to the euro-region slowed in June, suggesting the global export-led recovery is losing strength.

In China, manufacturing growth slowed more than economists forecast, and a gauge of factory output in the 16-member euro region weakened for a second month, two surveys showed. The U.S. Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index due today probably also declined, according to the median forecast of 79 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Asian and European stocks fell on concern that a Chinese economic slowdown combined with deepening budget cuts from Spain to the U.K. may undermine the global recovery. While the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on May 26 raised its global growth forecast for this year, it said that a “boom-bust scenario cannot be ruled out” in some countries.

“We expect data to soften from here,” said Jacques Cailloux, chief European economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “It’s going to raise some question marks about the outlook, about a double dip. It’s an environment with significant downside risks.”

21:52 Thursday 1 July, 2010

More Americans unexpectedly applied for jobless benefits last week, a sign the labor market recovery may be slowing.

Initial jobless claims increased by 13,000 to 472,000 in the week ended June 26, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance rose, while those getting emergency benefits dropped after Congress failed to act on extending the legislation.

The jump in applications raises the risk that the turmoil in financial markets brought on by the European debt crisis is leading to additional cutbacks in staff. The Labor Department tomorrow may report the U.S. lost jobs in June for the first month this year, reflecting a drop in temporary federal workers who helped to conduct the decennial census.

“The labor market is not generating employment for anyone, even for people who have been out a long time,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York, who forecast claims at 470,000. “What we’re seeing in the backup of claims is not a particularly healthy story, showing we can’t generate upside momentum in the labor market.”

15:44 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Asian stocks fell, dragging down the MSCI Asia Pacific Index by the most in more than three weeks, after Chinese manufacturing growth slowed and Moody’s Investors Service said it may cut Spain’s top credit rating.

Mining companies BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, which get at least a fifth of their revenue from China, sank more than 2 percent in Sydney after the Purchasing Managers’ Index, a gauge of Chinese manufacturing, fell more than economists estimated. Nissan Motor Co., which gets 13 percent of its revenue in Europe, lost 1.6 percent in Tokyo after Moody’s said it may lower Spain’s Aaa classification.

“Investors are already finding difficulty traversing the wall of worry,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage about $1.1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “A downgrade of Spanish sovereign debt would be another piece of negative news that adds to demand for perceived safe-haven investments.”

10:41 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Japanese shares pushed deeper into negative ground early Thursday morning, adding to the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average's 2% loss in the previous session. The Nikkei fell 1% to 9,284.9 in the early minutes of trade, while the broader Topix lost 0.8% to 834.3, despite a surprise positive reading in the central bank's quarterly survey of large manufacturer sentiment.

10:38 Thursday 1 July, 2010

The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey of business sentiment released Thursday showed that large manufacturers' sentiment turned positive for the first time in two years, buoyed by strong exports.

The "diffusion index" for large manufacturers improved more than expected to a positive reading of 1, beating the forecast of minus 4 predicted by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, and rising from minus 14 in the March survey.

The headline figure improved for the fifth straight quarter, and was greatly improved from the record-low reading of minus 58 in the March 2009 tankan. A positive reading shows more companies are optimistic than pessimistic.

08:27 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Why fiscal conservatism threatens the world economy, with Joseph Stiglitz, nobel laureate & economist.

08:20 Thursday 1 July, 2010

In Tuesday's market mayhem, the 200-day moving average on the S&P 500 turned negative for the first time since last year, an ill omen to some.

However, Birinyi Associates took a look at the occurrences of the 200-day turning negative since 1945, and found that it's mostly preceded positive stock market moves in the next week, the next month, the next three months and even the next year.

"On average, over the next month the market is up 2.37 percent, and it posts gains about 78 percent of the time. It's totally counterintuitive. It's something people who are bearish...are going to say is a change in trend. When you look and this actually happens, that's not the case," said Cleve Rueckert of Birinyi Associates.

08:14 Thursday 1 July, 2010

Gold futures edged higher on Wednesday, adding to the prior session's modest comeback, as traders sought refuge from risk ahead of a half-trillion euro payback due by banks to the European Central Bank later in the week.

07:46 Thursday 1 July, 2010

U.S. stocks slumped on Wednesday, leading the market to its worst quarter since December 2008, as economic concerns continued to pile on.

A disappointing private-sector jobs report offset more upbeat manufacturing data ahead of Friday's monthly employment report.

"The economy is still in a tenuous state at best," said Bob Enck, president and CEO at Equinox Fund Management.

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