US Markets U.S. stocks are up early this morning as investors await the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. - Google and Microsoft both gained over 3%. Google missed earnings and revenue estimates but reported higher than expected revenues from its core Google Search business. Microsoft also missed earnings and revenues but reported a 40% increase in revenue of its cloud computing services.
- So far, of the just over 150 S&P 500 companies to report their earnings, 70% have beaten expectations.
- Qualcomm, Ford, and Meta report their earnings after today's closing bell.
- The current 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is set at 2.76490%.
| Dow Jones | 31,903.66 | 0.45% | | S&P 500 | 3,966.72 | 1.16% | | Nasdaq | 11,808.74 | 2.13% | | Russell 2000 | 1,816.32 | 0.61% | *Stock Market data as of the last closing bell. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services. Do you not understand any of these figures? Check out our explainer.
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Canadian Markets Government Analytics estimates that a one-year Canada-wide gas tax holiday would cost the government $15.2B in lost revenues. This would occur if the government removes all taxes and all carbon pricing fees attached to gas. - Numerous politicians, business groups, and individuals have been pushing for a decrease in gas taxes. Ontario has already cut its gas tax by 5.7 cents per liter and its fuel tax by 5.3 cents per liter.
- A recent survey from Volvo shows that more than half of Canadians are driving less due to high gas prices.
- Another independent survey found that 92% of small businesses said their price increases were directly related to high fuel costs.
*Canadian stock prices are as of the last close. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services
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European Markets Markets are up in Europe in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later today. - Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein said he will be stepping down after the company reported significant losses last quarter.
- The Stoxx 600 was up 0.4% in midday trading with travel stocks leading markets up 2% and telecom stocks down 0.7%.
- The IMF has downgraded its GDP growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023.
| Euro STOXX 50 | 3,597.91 | 0.63% | | UK (FTSE 100) | 7,353.60 | 0.65% | | Germany (DAX) | 13,136.57 | 0.30% | | France (CAC 40) | 6,237.94 | 0.43% | *European stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services.
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Asian Markets Stocks in Asia were mostly positive despite being impacted by the IMF's new outlook. - The IMF expects 3.2% global growth in 2022, which is 0.4 percentage points lower than its previous projection.
- Inflation hit 6.1% in Australia in Q2; higher than the 5.1% in Q1 but below economists' expectations of 6.2%.
- Real estate stocks in Hong Kong fell, with Country Garden losing 15.05% and the Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index down 6.29%.
| S&P Asia 50 | 4,696.25 | 0.22% | | Japan (Nikkei 225) | 27,715.75 | 0.22% | | South Korea (KOSPI) | 2,415.53 | 0.11% | | China (Hang Seng) | 20,670.04 | -1.13% | | India (SENSEX) | 55,816.32 | 0.99% | *Asian stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services.
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Commodities Oil prices rose for a third straight day on Wednesday as investors seek to balance out reports of issues impacting supply and demand. - Oil prices are still significantly below their 14-year high of $139 hit in March.
- Brent crude was up 0.9%, to $105.31 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2%, to $96.14.
- U.S. inventories were down from last week, contributing to the increase in prices. It's estimated the stockpile fell by 4 million barrels, more than the 1 million barrel decrease expected by investors.
| Oil (NYSEARCA:OIL) | 32.74 | 1.50% | | Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) | 159.83 | -0.13% | | Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) | 17.13 | -0.17% | | Corn (NYSEARCA:CORN) | 24.13 | 0.00% | | Lumber (NASDAQ:WOOD) | 76.35 | 1.27% | *Commodity prices are as of 7 am ET. Data from MarketWatch. To understand why investors track the prices of these commodities, click here.
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Currency Exchange Rates The U.S. Dollar is down slightly early this morning in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement later today. - The dollar made significant gains on Tuesday.
- The U.S. Dollar Index is up 2.3% so far this month.
- The index is currently at 107.24, just below the 20-year high of 109.29 set earlier in July.
- The Euro rose earlier morning after losing 1% on Tuesday.
| UK(GBP) | £0.83 | 0.03% | | Europe (EURO) | €0.99 | 0.93% | | Canada (Canadian Dollar) | $1.29 | 0.14% | | Japan (Yen) | ¥136.93 | 0.37% | *Exchange rates as of 7am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them, click here.
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Cryptocurrency Bitcoin prices are up slightly this morning, reversing the negative trend from earlier in the week. - Cathie Wood's Ark sold 1.4 million shares of Coinbase following reports that the company would be investigated by the SEC.
- Jose Campa, who is the chair of the European Banking Authority, does not believe that his agency has the capacity to effectively supervise digital assets.
- EY has built Ethereum-based software as a service to help companies hit their carbon accounting goals by tracking supply chains to show how they match their ESG mandates.
| Bitcoin | $21,428.40 | 0.55% | | Ethereum | $1,488.79 | 3.10% | | Litecoin | $54.06 | 0.30% | | Bitcoin Cash | $118.84 | 0.69% | *Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them, click here.
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 |  | Liam Gill is a founder, lawyer and investor.
He previously founded Fumarii Technologies, which became a top 20 ranked cloud computing service (Yahoo Finance! 2019) valued at over $30M. He holds an LLB Laws (UK), MSc Management and Master of Laws and currently practices law at Zargar Lawyers + Business Strategists in Vancouver, Canada.
|   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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