10 things you need to know in markets July 31

Elementary
school sumo wrestlers compete in the sumo ring during the Wanpaku
sumo-wrestling tournament in Tokyo, Japan July 29,
2018.

REUTERS/Kim
Kyung-Hoon

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Tuesday.

1.
The Bank of Japan held interest rates steady on Tuesday but moved
to add more flexibility to the policy framework for its stimulus
programme. The Financial Times reports that Japan’s
central bank once again stood firm against the global move
towards tighter policy among the world’s heavy-hitting central
banks, announcing that overnight interest rates would remain at
minus 0.1% and that 10-year bond yields would stay capped at
about 0%.

2.
Standard Chartered reported a 34% rise in pretax profit for the
six months to June and issued an interim dividend, as the
Asia-focused bank continued to grow its revenue after years of
restructuring. Reuters reports that pre-tax profit
for StanChart, which focuses on Asia, Africa and the Middle East,
rose to $2.35 billion in the first half of the year, from $1.75
billion in the same period last year.

3.
Credit Suisse beat expectations with an 81% rise in pre-tax
profits, to SFr 1.05 billion, in the second quarter of the year
as it pushed ahead with its strategy of focusing on wealth
management, but struck a cautious tone on the
outlook. The Financial Times reports that the Swiss
bank reported strong inflows of new assets in to its main
businesses managing the finances of the world’s rich, including
SFr 13.2 billion into its international wealth management
business, but pre-tax profits fell in its global markets
division.

4.
Samsung posted a 5.7% rise in second-quarter profit on Tuesday as
strong sales of semiconductors helped the South Korean tech giant
defy sluggish growth in the smartphone market.
Operating profit for the world’s biggest maker of memory chips
and smartphones was 14.9 trillion won ($13.4 billion) in the
April-June quarter, it said in a regulatory filing, compared with
14.8 trillion won it had estimated.

5.
China’s Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said
on Tuesday first-half revenue rose 15%, thanks to solid
performance in its operations. The Shenzhen-based
company said revenue was 325.7 billion yuan ($47.7 billion) while
the first-half operating margin was 14%.

6.
US stocks fell Monday, with the Nasdaq declining for a
third-straight session, as FANG stocks remained under pressure
following a wave of disappointing tech earnings. The
dollar retreated against a basket of peers ahead of multiple
major central bank meetings this week, and Treasury yields
jumped.

7.
UBS analyst Colin Langan suggests Tesla’s newly-revised pricing
strategy is intended to set the company up to raise more money in
the fourth quarter. Tesla is scheduled to report
earnings on Wednesday, and investors will be closely watching
results and subsequent commentary.

8.
Oil spiked more than 1.5% on Monday despite OPEC production
hitting its highest level of the year, as US-Iran relations kept
traders on edge.
US West Texas Intermediate is down 0.2% to $69.91 at the time
of writing (6.55 a.m. BST/1.55 a.m. ET) and
Brent oil is flat at $74.70.

9.
Goldman Sachs closely monitors a measure called “breadth,” which
assesses the degree to which the market’s returns are being
driven by a small handful of stocks. The firm’s
breadth signal is flashing yellow, and Goldman says investors
should be wary of a meltdown.

10.
Uber is ending its self-driving truck program, TechCrunch first
reported. An Uber representative confirmed the news
to Business Insider and said the company had determined that
developing autonomous trucks was not necessary to stay
competitive in the freight logistics industry.