Monday Morning Meeting Notes (08/07/2023)

General Info:

• The employment report for July showed 187,000 new jobs added (slightly below expectations of 200,000)
• The unemployment rate declined from 3.6% to 3.5%, while wage growth continued to be strong as it was faster than expected at 0.4% month-over-month and 4.4% year-over-year (vs. expectations of 0.3% and 4.2%, respectively)
• As expected, the Bank of England (BOE) raised interest rates by 0.25%, bringing its bank rate to 5.25%
• Fitch Ratings downgraded the long-term credit quality of U.S. Treasuries from AAA to AA+
• The ratings agency noted that the downgrade reflects, “the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to 'AA' and 'AAA' rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions”
• The downgrade is likely to be more symbolic than have any real, meaningful impact
• The only countries remaining with a AAA rating from all three major ratings agencies (Fitch, S&P, and Moody’s) are Australia, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland
• Fun Fact: To compete in a sanctioned table tennis event, players must use an authorized racket covering. Luckily, there are over 1,600 varieties of table tennis racket coverings on the International Table Tennis Federation’s authorized list! One side must be black, while the other side must be bright red, pink, purple, green, or blue. In addition to the various color palettes, the large number on the authorized list comes from the covers having different textures (smooth, pimpled, etc.)
• Another table tennis fun fact is that the longest rally in The Guinness Book of World Records is from an English father-son duo – Peter Ives and his son, Daniel. Their rally took 32,000 total hits and an incredible 8 hours, 40 minutes, and 5 seconds

Monday 08/07:

• Saudi Aramco, KKR, MagnaChip Semiconductor, Tyson Foods, Treehouse Foods, Viatris, Itau Unibanco, and Palantir Technologies report earnings
• Germany industrial production
• Chile copper exports and trade data for July

Tuesday 08/08:

• Softbank, Zoetis, Eli Lilly, UPS, Glencore PLC, Sealed Air Corp, Aramark, Macerich, Super Micro Computer Inc, Duke Energy, Eneti Inc, TransDigm Group, Lyft, and Restaurant Brands International report earnings
• U.S. NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for July

Wednesday 08/09:

• Disney, Illumina, Honda Motor, Sony, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Manulife Financial, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Wynn Resorts report earnings
• China releases consumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), new yuan loans, and aggregate financing data for July

Thursday 08/10:

• Alibaba, Siemens, Hapag-Lloyd, and Six Flags Entertainment report earnings
• U.S. CPI data for July is expected to show growth of 0.2% month-over-month and 3.3% year-over-year (vs. last month’s readings of 0.2% and 3.0%, respectively
• Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is expected to increase 0.2% month-over-month and 4.8% year-over-year (in-line with last month’s reading)
• U.S. initial jobless claims and continuing claims data

Friday 08/11:

• U.S. PPI data for July
• U.S. University of Michigan consumer sentiment index (preliminary August data)
• U.K. GDP data for Q2 2023
• U.K. industrial production data