The Hang Seng was closed today for a public holiday however the Equity China index showed a .5% gain today. Data released today showed factory activity in China’s private sector shrank at its fastest pace in 7 months in June, activity was down all of the previous 7 months as well. This could give us expectations over the market tomorrow unless European news is able to pull up China.

European shares rallied today after bold moves made at the EU summit last week and upcoming expectations from the European Central Bank, which meets on Thursday. The FTSEurofirst was up over .7% today putting it at levels not seen since early May. Credit Agricole was the largest gainer on the FTSE adding 6.8%.
JPMorgan lifts IMAX to an outperform rating with many movies being shot in the IMAX format over the summer. Shares have gained 19.6% in the last 30 days.
Deutsche Bank downgraded UPS to a Hold from Buy and set the target price on shares at $82 from $88.
Energy commodities are down to begin the day as are gold and silver.

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

The gains trimmed stocks’ first quarterly decline since late September, following a big retreat in May.

European shares soared as Spanish and Italian government bond yields fell. The Stoxx 600 Europe index advanced 2.7%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 index gained 5.7%.

The core price index for personal-consumption expenditures, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, edged up less than expected in May. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago’s business barometer, a survey of Chicago-area purchasing managers, unexpectedly ticked up to 52.9 from 52.7.

Crude oil futures jumped 9.4% to settle at $84.96 a barrel, the biggest one-day percent increase since March 2009. Gold futures jumped 3.5% to settle at $1603.50. The U.S. dollar eased slid against the euro but rose versus the Japanese yen.

In the corporate arena, Constellation Brands surged 26%, the biggest climb in the S&P 500, after agreeing to buy out the rest of a joint venture that imports and markets Grupo Modelo beer brands such as Corona Extra, the best-selling imported beer in the U.S.

Research In Motion (RIMM) plunged -19% after the BlackBerry maker announced its first quarterly operating loss in more than seven years. The company also said it plans to cut about 5,000 jobs—about one-third of its workforce—by the end of the fiscal year.

Nike (NKE) slumped -9.46% after the athletic-apparel maker reported worse-than-expected quarterly results and warned of slower growth in China.

Ford Motor (F) slipped -6% after warning it expects to lose roughly $570 million in its overseas operations in the second quarter, largely because of Europe’s slumping economy. The auto maker expects overall second-quarter profit to decline from the year-earlier period. General Motors GM -0.58% slumped 1.2% to a more than six-month low.

ServiceNow, a provider of cloud computing services for businesses, jumped 33% after its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange priced higher than expected. This IPO, the first tech IPO since Facebook, reinvigorated investor confidence in IPO’s and industry valuations.

Have a nice weekend everyone and we’ll see you Monday.