The Hang Seng managed to rally in the afternoon to close up although volumes were extremely low, the rally was mainly due to investors covering their shorts. Among gainers were utilities, telecoms and Hong Kong large-caps. China sportswear brand Li Ning jumped 7.3% today after hitting a 7 year low last Friday.
European shares are playing it cautious today ahead of the ECB meeting this afternoon where there is expected to be a rate cut of 25 basis points. Let’s hope the expectations are right or the market will for sure be down tomorrow. The FTSE is up .3% however is also very light on volume today. Volkswagen is a standout today adding 6.4% on plans to take full control of Porsche in less than one month.

The MBA Applications were released today showing the purchase index up 1%, however the refinance applications remained down 8% similar to last week.
GM reports is automobile sales rose 10.1% in China, however the announcement was ill-timed as it also had to recall 2000 Captiva Sport crossovers due to braking issues.

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

In other news, Samsung lost their request to lift the ban on their tablet, Galaxy 10.1. The tablet and now the Nexus phone are under fire by Apple for copyright infringement. And while this creates bad press for the company it does not hurt sales by a large margin. The attack is on last year’s model the 10.1 so Samsung is still able to sell their newest tablet and phone which is their greatest profit margin anyway.

As for the economy, the numbers on Motor Vehicle Sales, ICSC Goldman Store Sales and Factor Orders are due in at 7:45am and 10:00am respectively. All three reports are supposed to yield a further decrease from April.

Turning to the stock market, the S&P 500 was up 0.25% at the close yesterday with the 10-year treasury up as well at 0.57%. Oil joined the upswing at 2.39% and the Dollar at 0.02%, the first time in a while that all four have closed on the rise.

And finally, Happy Fourth of July everyone! Make sure to check out our first webinar this Sunday after the holidays.

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S&P 500 futures were trading down 3.75 points (-.28%) at 1352.75, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 56 points (.44%) at 12752.00, and NASDAQ futures were down 2 points (-.08%) at 2607.75.

WTI crude futures slid today after last Friday’s $7.27 gain due to weak economic data in the U.S. and China. Oil was last trading down $2.52 at $82.44.

Gold futures followed crude’s lead and were trading down $6.70 at $1597.50.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) agreed to buy Amylin (AMLN) for about $7 billion. The deal marks a great opportunity for Bristol to expand its diabetes research division with ally AstraZeneca PLC. This morning Amylin was trading at $30.71, up $2.51 (8.90%), while BMY gained .33%.

Barclays PLC (BARC) was trading up 3.19% as Chairman Marcus Aguis stepped down after last week’s LIBOR manipulation charge.

Research in Motion (RIMM) continued to fall as it reached a daily low of $7.14, making new 52-week lows. Last week RIMM reported a quarterly loss of $518 million.

Best Buy Co., Inc (BBY) rose 10.31% after the expectation that the founder would team up with Credit Suisse to buyout the company.

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

Lincare holdings Inc. is a home health services provider that specializes in home respiratory therapy. Linde AG, the German industrial gas company is looking to expand into the healthcare sector. Industrial gas companies similar to Linde have taken interest in home healthcare services that provide respirators and gas tanks in recent years as their supply costs are low and the recent expansion in home healthcare services industry.

In January, Lincare acquired Air Products, a European homecare company for $747 million. Lincare has a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a market cap of $2.94 billion. Linde’s healthcare sector had 2011 sales of EUR 1.2 billion and total sales of EUR 13.8 billion. Linde’s agreement to buy Lincare included an offer to purchase Lincare’s shares at $4

Europe is clearly not the only continent struggling as June’s numbers came out fro China today as well and the country’s manufacturing is down 0.2 points which keeps China under the 50pt mark still.

What other news can be expected today? The PMI Manufacturing Index, ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending report will be announced. The PMI at 9am with the ISM Mfg. and Construction both announced after at 10am.

As for the market, last Friday at the close the S&P was up 2.49% while the 10-year treasuries were down 0.36%. The close also saw the Dollar with a 0.36% gain and Oil down 1.55%.

And finally, for the breaking news of the day, Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius announced his resignation after the bank was found guilty of price fixing and required to pay $453 in fines. Between 2005 and 2009 the bank had submitted lower, false figures on its interbank borrowing. Barclays also encouraged individual traders to fudge figures to protect dealings. This false data from Barclays combined with other banks figures is what sets the LIBOR rate.