10 things you need to know in markets August 1

Farmer
Tom Wollaston’s wife Margo talks with her daughter Natasha and
her granddaughter Abbey as a rainbow forms above them at sunset
on their drought-effected property, located west of the town of
Tamworth, in north-western New South Wales in Australia, June 2,
2018. Picture taken June 2, 2018.

REUTERS/David
Gray

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

1.
Lloyds Banking Group said on Wednesday its pre-tax profit for the
first half of 2018 jumped by 23% to £3.1 billion, broadly in line
with expectations despite another hefty provision for insurance
mis-selling. Reuters reports that Britain’s biggest
mortgage lender was predicted to book £3.2 billion in pre-tax
profit for the period to end-June, according to a bank-compiled
average of forecasts.

2.
Apple reported strong earnings on Tuesday, beating expectations
for both revenue and earnings per share. The beat
was partially powered by Apple’s “services” business, which
includes iCloud, Apple Music, and the App Store. All told,
services revenue rose 31% year over year to $9.54 billion.

3.
BNP Paribas profits beat expectations in the second quarter as
international financial services held up results in the face of
sluggish trading activity. The Financial Times
reports that the Paris-based bank saw net income fall slightly to
€2.39 billion ($2.9 billion/£2.13 billion), compared to the same
quarter last year, but above analyst expectations of closer to €2
billion.

4.
The United States may announce higher tariff rates on Chinese
imports entering the country, a move designed to increase
pressure on China to resume trade negotiations.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, said the proposed 10% tariffs
on $200 billion-worth of Chinese imports that were announced in
July could be increased to 25% within the coming days.

5.
US stocks staged a comeback on Tuesday after a three-session
losing streak amid optimism for cooling trade tensions between
the US and China and after a series of strong earnings
reports. Bloomberg reported that representatives of
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He
are working toward a restart in trade talks, according to two
people familiar with the matter.

6.
Japanese shares rose on Wednesday, following gains on Wall Street
and reports of attempts to renew trade talks between the United
States and China. Japan’s Nikkei closed up 0.83%,
but the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.29% at the time of writing
(7.15 a.m. BST/2.15 a.m. ET), and China’s Shanghai Composite is
down 0.94% after weak Chinese manufacturing data.

7.
Activity levels across China’s manufacturing sector in July grew
at the slowest pace in eight months. New export
orders declined for a fourth consecutive month, and at the
fastest pace in over two years.

8.
British retailer Next reported a 2.8% rise in full-price sales in
the second quarter, a better result than it had forecast
following exceptionally warm weather that boosted demand for
summer ranges. Reuters reports that the company said
on Wednesday it was almost certain that some of these sales have
been pulled forward from August, so it maintained its sales and
profit guidance for the year to January 2019.

9. It’s manufacturing PMI day. IHS Markit will
deliver manufacturing sector growth estimates for Spain, Italy,
France, Germany, Britain, and the eurozone as a whole in July
from 8.15 a.m. BST (3.15 a.m. ET) onwards. Activity is forecast
to remain steady or slow slightly across all European markets.
Figures for Canada and the US come this afternoon.

10.
Crypto bears were back in control during Asian trade, with
Bitcoin continuing its slide after falling below $8,000
overnight.Bitcoin
is down 2.5% against the dollar to $7,542.51 at the time of
writing (7.10 a.m. BST/5.10 a.m. ET).