Fed minutes of meeting show hesitation
Dow Jones Industrial Averages closed up 74.51 points (+0.36%) at 21,012.42, Nasdaq up 24.31 points (+0.40%), and S&P 500 up 5.97 points (+0.25%). FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday indicate the Fed hesitate in their rate-hike scenario. Also, inclined to wait further to see if the slowdown in the economy is only temporary. On the minutes of the meeting, the Fed planned to shrink its balance sheet.
The minutes of the meeting show little change in the Fed expectation on June rate-hike. However, it looks like the Fed started to feel the pressure from President Trump administration which wants softer U.S dollar. If the Fed yield to the government, it looks like the rate-hike scenario will be put to hold until unforeseeable future.
China’s sovereign rating downgrade
Moody’s downgraded China credit rating by one notch to A1 on Wednesday. This downgrade was the first credit cut since 1989. Also, the downgrade put China’s sovereign rating just two ranks away from junk rating. Moodý’s alarmed on the debt growth of the country and think China will have trouble in coming years with slower growth.
It is interesting to note that China total debt was around 220% of its GDP in 2015 and the debts mostly owed by Corporation continue to grow. The stock market initially down after the release of credit rating, but the market shrugged off this event, erase all losses to close at positive side.
Other market
U.S dollar index settled down 0.31 (0.32%) from 97.35 after minutes of meeting show softer outlook on an interest-rate hike.
Bitcoin continues to move up sharply, jumped 7.96% and hovering at $2,673. The explosive movement of bitcoin startle the market, and it moves up almost 100% from May low $1,346 which is impressive.
Earnings & corporate report
Intuit Inc (NYSE: INTU) reported earnings per share of $3.90 vs. $3.87 expectation. Revenue comes out at $2.54 billion vs. $2.5 billion consensuses. Share prices jumped and closed higher 6.72% as the company also release optimistic guidance.
Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) lower 3.02% after its earnings report show the company hammered by Home Depot (NYSE: HD). The company reported earnings of $1.03 per share vs. $1.07 consensus. Revenue comes out at $16.86 billion vs. $17 billion expectation.
Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) joined the bear bandwagon with revenue miss and lowered same store selling. Although the profit grows to $0.72 vs. $0.69 consensus, revenue miss at $899 billion vs. $913 billion. Same-store selling slid 2%, more than 1.6% projected by Wallstreet.