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10 things you need to know today
(REUTERS/Damir Sagolj)
Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army seen Thursday in Beijing during the military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Good morning! Here's what you need to know.
Market volatility is low. Lately, it seems to be news when the global stock markets don't make massive multi-percentage-point moves up or down. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.1%, and Australia's S&P ASX declined 1.4%. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 is up 1.4%, Germany's DAX is up 1.4%, and France's CAC is up 1.2%. US futures are in the green, with Dow futures up 72 points and S&P 500 futures up 7 points.
China is closed. Chinese markets are closed Thursday and Friday as the country celebrates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
IMF warns China's impact on the world is worse than it thought. "China's transition to a lower growth, while broadly in line with forecasts, appears to have larger-than-previously-envisaged cross-border repercussions, reflected in weakening commodity prices and stock prices," the International Monetary Fund said late on Wednesday. "Near-term downside risks for emerging economies have increased."
Europe is growing. The eurozone's composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) improved to 54.3 in August from 53.9 in July, signaling accelerating growth in the region. "Although global economic worries have intensified in recent weeks, the calming of Grexit fears has led to an improvement in the business environment across the eurozone, pushing the pace of economic growth to its fastest for just over four years in August," Markit's Chris Williamson said. "The PMI is indicating euro area GDP growth close to 0.4% in the third quarter, a solid albeit unspectacular rate of expansion"
But there are 2 different Europes right now. Growth in Europe, however, isn't uniform. On one end you have Germany, where the PMI jumped to a five-month high of 55.0. Spain and Italy also saw acceleration. And then there's France, where the PMI fell to a seven-month low of 50.2. "The worrying deterioration of growth in France is a major concern, the PMI dropping below the flash reading to signal a near stagnation of the economy in the third quarter, but the ECB will be reassured by the ability of the eurozone economy as a whole to withstand recent headwinds," Markit's Williamson said.
The European Central Bank steps up. The ECB will announce its latest monetary policy decision at 7:45 a.m. ET. Economists expect no new changes to its benchmark rates. This comes as the central bank's loose monetary policy seems to be insufficient as growth remains lackluster and inflation remains low. "We expect the ECB to ease monetary policy further before year-end as a result of what we consider to be an unwarranted tightening of financial conditions," Barclays' Philippe Gudin and Antonio Garcia-Pascual said. "At today's press conference, we expect ECB President Mario Draghi to prepare markets for such a decision, and we think he could even announce an extension of the program beyond September 2016."
Let's not forget about Japan. After all, it's the world's third-largest economy. And it's growing. "Latest survey data showed signs of a marked improvement in the Japanese service sector. Activity growth accelerated to the strongest since October 2013, underpinned by a solid increase in new orders," Markit's Amy Brownbill said. "Expectations of an economic recovery, greater demand generated from the preparations for the hosting of the Olympic Games, and expansions in business were all cited as determinants behind the optimism," Markit said.
Twitter's search for a CEO is intensifying. "Twitter's board meets Thursday and plans to discuss the results from the search so far, said the people, who asked not to be named because the process is private," Bloomberg's Sarah Frier, Emily Chang, and Brad Stone report. "Twitter's search firm, Spencer Stuart, has been reaching out to potential leaders, including former Cisco Systems Inc. executive Padmasree Warrior and CBS Interactive Inc.'s Jim Lanzone, according to people familiar with the matter."
Hedge fund giant Bill Ackman had a lousy August. "Pershing Square Holdings had been up 10.1% through the end of July," Business Insider's Julia La Roche reported. "Then the market crashed and the fund went down with it, dropping 13.1% from August 1 to 25. That put the fund in the red for the year, down 4.3%."
It's a busy day for the US economy. We'll get the latest tally of weekly initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET, the July trade balance report also at 8:30 a.m., and the August ISM services index at 10 a.m. Get the whole preview in Business Insider's Monday Scouting Report.
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