The Hang Seng topped the Nikkei by rising 2% today, however finished down 1.9% on the week. HSBC
Holdings was the top boost for the day rising 2.6%; they are down 6.4% this month however up 8.7%
on the year. The AIA group, Asia’s third largest insurer, slipped .2% today, however posted a larger than
expected increase in value of new business in the first half of the year. The Banking sector rose today
after Shanghai Securities News announced Chinese banks have until 2018 to meet new capital-adequacy
rules. Industry and Commercial Bank of China rose 2.7% and Bank of China 2.1%.

Europe is having a choppy trading day, however the FTSEurofirst has managed a .1% gain on yesterday’s
comments by European Central Bank Leader Mario Draghi. The day has been held back by a Spanish
report showing unemployment staggeringly high at 24.6% in Q2, the highest on record. The Euro is up
again today at 1.2309.

The SEC and department of justice are considering investigating retailers for breaches of anti-foreign
bribery laws after allegations came in from Mexico against Wal-Mart.

Commodities are beginning mixed again today with crude and silver up as natural gas and silver are
slacking 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

More importantly, the Euro, a favorite short here at KOTM, spiked 1% against the dollar to reach a weekly high around $1.2285. 

In corporate news, Sprint surged 19.44% after the telephone company announced a narrower than expected loss in the second quarter. Exxon Mobil raised 1.37% after the oil production company reported earnings rose by 49%. However, lower energy prices and production did diminish earnings slightly. Finally, shares of Zynga plummeted today, driving down 40% today and dragging down Facebook with it. Facebook shares shrank near 8% after Zynga’s drop and poor earnings in their earnings debut. 

Crude-oil futures climbed 1.3% to $90.16 a barrel, while gold futures gained 0.7% to $1618 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar fell against the euro, but edged up against the yen. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose to 1.431% as demand fell.

In other corporate news, United Technologies (UTX) rose 0.27% after it agreed to sell some of its industrial products to BC Partners, among others. Sprint Nextel, the telecom company, surged 16% this morning after the company reported a smaller than expected second quarter loss on higher than anticipated revenue. Finally, Whole Foods Market (WFM) rallied near 10% after they reported fiscal third quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates. 

The Irvine, California based hard-disk-drive maker’s adjusted earnings beat expectations of $2.47 a share by coming in at $3.35.  WDC has a P/E ratio of 7.57 and had an increase in quarterly revenue of 97.8% since this time last year. The company shipped 71 million hard drives during the previous quarter with revenue of $4.75 billion, $.5 billion higher than expected.  They reported a net income of $158 million or 67 cents a share.

David Cornes holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana.

After a back and forth battle the Hang Seng crawled up .1% today with defensive stocks outweighing
week second quarter earnings. Sands China dropped 4.9% closing at its lowest since December 20 th as
its parent corp, Las Vegas Sands Corp reported worse than expected earnings due to lower profits at
Casinos. Concerns over July revenue for the gambling sector push down SJM holdings, MGM China and
Wynn Macau 3.5, 3.4 and 3% respectively. The index’s largest gainer Li & Fung Ltd was up 3.75% on the
day.

The FTSEurofirst is beginning the day flat on mixed earnings reports. Unilever is the top gainer in Europe,
up 5.2% after not issuing profit warnings as its two main competitors have. Rolls Royce is up 4.8% as
it revealed a better than expected 7% rise in first half profit due to the airlines need to renew fleets
with more fuel efficient planes. Royal Dutch Shell and BP lost 3.6 and 1% respectively on lagging second
quarter earnings.

Italy’s market is up 3.7% and the Euro jumped 1% to 1.2274 as Mario Draghi promised to “do whatever
it takes to preserve the Euro.”

Nokia tossed a software project code named Meltemi, which was to compete with Google’s Android,
due to costs savings efforts.

Commodities are beginning with modest gains from crude and natural gas, gold is up .67% and silver
bucking the trend down .2%.

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