European shares begin the week mostly flat as the FTSEurofirst currently shows gains of .1% weighed down by profit warnings. Minor Rio Tinto dropped 1.7% after having their price targets downgraded by UBS and Nomura. Recently unstable Nokia lost 3.3% today with news that it has slashed prices of its
smartphone Lumia 900 in half in the US due to competition from rivals such as Apple. Investors remain skeptical and are patiently waiting US June retail sales numbers due out at 12:30 GMT.
Eurozone trade balance for May came in at 6.9B vs 4B expected and 3.7B from the prior month. The CPI for June came in plus 2.4% unchanged from May.
CLSA downgraded both Tyson foods and Smithfield foods today to underperform from buy and cut prices targets on the two food giants. Tyson is down in pre-trade while Smithfield is currently up.
Tata Motors, currently up 1.61%, is in talks with the Brazilian government to expand manufacturing capabilities to build Jaguar Land Rover Freelanders.
Commodities begin the week with a bleak outlook showing crude, natural gas, gold and silver all down at the moment.
Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market. Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu