Friday June 30th

This is Brian Hamilton filling in for Mark Vickery while he is on vacation.

Overnight both the U.K. and the European Central Bank (ECB) posted key economic indicators; the U.K. reported their third reading of first-quarter GDP which remained unchanged at +2.0% annual growth, and the Office for National Statistics also announced that the country’s savings ratio fell to its lowest level ever recorded.  The ECB disclosed that core inflation rose by +0.2% from 0.9% in May to 1.1% in June.  This was viewed as a positive sign for ECB policy makers who need inflation growth before they can begin to pull back from their stimulus program.  Lastly, Eurostat reported that consumer price growth in the euro area declined to an annual pace of 1.3% in June.  

At the opening bell, we will get two domestic economic indicators; core personal consumption expenditure (core PCE), Feds preferred measure of inflation, and U.S. personal income and spending data where analysts are expecting a small decline from April’s reading of +0.4%.  Later in the day, the USDA is expected to announce data on crop planting estimates; expectations are for increased corn and soy stockpiles.  Lastly, the Chicago Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) will be released today, the last report showed a strong reading of 59.4.  

Brian Hamilton

Investment Research Coordinator