Bloomberg Business
-Greece deal reached: Another Eurogroup meeting that ran into the early hours of the morning, another deal reached on Greece. This one paves the way for a €10.3 billion ($11.5 billion) aid payment to Athens. Significantly, the International Monetary Fund dropped its push for ‘up front’ debt burden reduction ahead of any further payments. In trading this morning yields on 10-year Greek government bonds fell below 7 percent for the first time since November.
-PBOC weakens yuan fixing: China’s central bank set its reference rate for the yuan at 6.5693 per dollar, its weakest since March 2011. The spot rate only fell 0.08 percent as investors didn’t receive the move as the start of a new round of devaluations for the currency. If a depreciation of the currency does become a factor for investors, then the market for Dim Sum debtwould likely be hit hardest.
-Rise of the machines: The Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc FX rankings released late yesterday yielded some interesting results. Citigroup Inc. retained the number one spot as the world’s largest currency trader by market share, while there was more bad news for Deutsche Bank AG as the bank’s market share slipped from 14.5 percent last year to 7.9 percent, dropping them to fourth place overall. The spot market showed the most interesting result, however, as XTX Markets Ltd., a computerized trading firm, has come from nowhere to claim the fourth place in that market – the first time an electronic specialist has displaced a bank in the annual survey.
-Market rally: Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index took its lead from U.S. markets, climbing 1.6 percent as Hong Kong and Japanese equities gained. European stocks are poised for their biggest two-day advance in two months as relief over the Greek debt deal and increasing commodity prices lifted stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was 1.4 percent higher at 6:15 a.m. ET. S&P 500 futures were 0.5 percent higher.
-Oil job losses: Royal Dutch Shell Plc has announced a further round of 2,200 job cuts, taking the 2015-2016 total to 12,500 as it tries to keep the company competitive during the extended period of low oil prices. Crude is rising this morning, with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for July delivery trading at $49.17 at 6:20 a.m. ET.
CNN Money
-Stock market movers: HP Enterprises, Monsanto, AB InBev: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE, Tech30) is up 11% premarket, after announcing it will spin off its enterprise services unit late on Tuesday. Monsanto (MON) gained nearly 2% in after-hours trading Tuesday after it rejected Bayer(BAYRY)’s $62 billion takeover bid. Monsanto indicated it was open to a deal at a higher price. Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is up 2% after the European Commission approved its plan to buy rival SABMiller (SBMRY) for about £68 billion ($99 billion).
-Oil edging towards $50: U.S. oil futures are up 1.3% early Wednesday, racing towards the magic level of $50 per barrel. Analysts are expecting a further drop in U.S. crude inventories when the latest data is released at 10.30 a.m. ET. Oil has been gaining steadily in the past couple of weeks, but analysts warn more prices might be coming.
-Earnings and economics: Tiffany & Co (TIF) will report its earnings before the opening bell.
Costco (COST), Guess? (GES) and HP (HPQ) are among the companies reporting after the market close. Canada’s central bank will decide on interest rates at 10 a.m. ET. The Canadian economy has been hit by lower oil prices and recent wild fires in Alberta.
-International markets overview: European markets are up in early trading. Germany’s DAX hit the 10,000 points barrier Wednesday, gaining about 1%. Greece reached a deal with its creditors overnight that will unlock the next tranche of its latest bailout agreed last summer. It also received a vague promise of debt relief in 2018. «The often used headline in recent years was ‘kicking the can down the road’ and for the most part, this amounts to another example of that,» said Simon Smith, the chief economist at FxPro. Asian markets rallied overnight and finished the session higher.
-Wednesday market recap: The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.2% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.4% and the Nasdaq added 2%.