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The earnings season has taken over the markets. Gold made history - Weekly Review, August 3 – 7

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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
14 septiembre 2020
The international markets had an eventful week

Monday: Wall Street was on a roll, as USA30 gained 1.04%, and TECH100 added 1.64%. 

The European benchmark Europe50 rose 0.5%, while Germany30 went up 1.2%, boosted by the idea of economic improvement.  

Marathon Petroleum and the Japanese Seven & i Holdings reached a $21 billion deal. By the agreement, Seven & i Holdings Co. will purchase the Speedway gas stations in North America. After the announcement, Marathon Petroleum's share price gained over 15%. 

Sanofi and GSK will receive $2.1 billion to develop and deliver 100 million of their potential COVID-19 joint vaccine. The market’s reaction was mixed after the announcement: Sanofi stock traded lower by 0.04%, while the GSK stock gained more than 1%.

Microsoft has a deadline to close a deal with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Discussions started after President Trump stated that he is considering banning the Chinese social media app. The agreement must be closed in less than 45 days, or else the app will be banned from the US.

HSBC's net profit dropped by 77% in just six months, reaching $1.98 billion from last year's $8.51 billion. The drop was caused by the pandemic, market volatility, and interest rates, among others. After the report, the HSBC stock price reached its lowest point since March 2009, also falling 4.4% during the Hong Kong trading session.

Tuesday: Gold made history after exceeding the $2,000 per ounce threshold. During the trading session, it had a high of $2,014.15/ ounce. 

The possible stimulus package from the US moved the Asian markets. Japan225 added 1.34%, and HongKong45 jumped 0.80%. 

EUR/GBP rose 0.24% to 0.9016.

British Petroleum lost $16.8 billion in Q2 as it wrote-down some asset value, along with a fluctuant oil price which affected the company more than expected. Regardless of the harmful quarterly data, it announced that it plans to be emission-free by 2050. The stock price gained nearly 7% after the report. 

Société Générale stock lost 4% after it reported a net loss of €1.26 billion, and €5.3 billion revenue, lower than last year’s €6.3 billion. 

Ralph Lauren's stock price fell almost 5% after it posted revenue that dropped to $487.5 million, from a previous $1.43 billion. It marked a 13% increase in online sales due to store closure amid the pandemic.

Wednesday: For Gold, it was the second day of records – it closed at $2,037 per ounce. Also, it was a good day for currencies. AUD/USD gained 0.3% to $0.7200. 

EUR/USD added 0.67% and settled at 1.1879.

EUR/GBP ended the day at 0.9045 after it added 0.19%.

Disney sales plummeted 42% to $11.78 billion. The revenue figures came in at $11.78 billion, or an EPS of 8 cents. The closure of the amusement parks caused dramatic declines. In the extended trading session, Disney's stock price gained more than 4%.

Bayer shared lower-than-expected figures. The revenue resulted in €10.05 billion, from a forecasted €10.57 billion. The quarterly sales dropped to €11 billion. Since January, Bayer stocks lost 21%.

Regeneron posted a net income of $897.3 million, almost nine times higher than last year's $193.1 million. The revenue topped the $1.73 billion consensus after it increased to $1.95 billion. The biotechnology company's stock price was close to a record high, adding 3.2% after the report.  

Sony shares reached the highest level in almost two decades after the company announced that it would soon launch the PlayStation 5 game console. However, during the Hong Kong trading session, stocks were lower by 2% at the opening.

Thursday and Friday: Some tweets of President Trump have been taken down by Facebook and Twitter as they spread false information about COVID-19. The posts violated the companies’ COVID-19 misinformation policies. Facebook closed lower by 0.28%, while Twitter gained over 1%.  

Johnson & Johnson secured a $1 billion deal with the US government, to develop and supply 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. After the news, the stock price added 0.80%.

Due to the pandemic, Toyota reported its first quarterly loss in almost a decade. The company’s sales slumped due to weak demand. Toyota reported a net profit of $1.50 billion, compared to last year’s $5.8 billion. However, the market didn’t budge, and the stock price added more than 2%.

US Department of Labor reported more than 1 million people left without a job due to the pandemic, in just one week. 1.186 million people filed for unemployment benefits, raising the total to more than 56 million jobless amid COVID-19. USA30 and TECH100 added 0.2% each after the report. 

Hilton’s revenue dropped 77% to $564 million from last year’s $2.48 billion, as demand decreased due to the pandemic. In six months, the stock price fell 27.9%. 

Uber topped the $2.1 billion consensus after revealing a revenue of $2.24 billion. Following the earnings report, the company's stock was down 2%.  

The NFP report showed that the US economy created 1.763 million jobs in the past month, higher than 1.60 million expected but still significantly lower than June's 4.791 million. 

Read everything you need to know about the market on CAPEX.com!

Sources: marketwatch.com, reuters.com, investing.com, finance.yahoo.com, edition.cnn.com


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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
financial_writer

Miguel comenzó su destacada carrera profesional en reputadas instituciones financieras como el Banco Santander y el Banco Central-Hispano. Es autor de importantes libros sobre trading en el mercado de divisas.