Workers May Be Going On Strike, But So Are Consumers

Beige Book Says There Is Nothing Sticky About Inflation

Highlights

• Oracle’s earnings were clouded by cloud sales slowing more than expected – Tech stocks are in focus this morning 

• All eyes are on tomorrow’s U.S. CPI report, but the Beige Book says there is nothing sticky about inflation 

• Softer and hotter? U.K. earnings growth hits record highs as unemployment rises 

• The BoC will be cutting rates ahead of the Fed, and by more than what the market has priced in at the moment 

While We Were Sleeping 

It’s a risk-off morning, with U.S. equity futures squarely in the red. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq (-0.3%) are weighed down by Tech following Oracle’s earnings after the close, with cloud sales slowing more than expected. It is a similar story in Europe, for the most part, with the Stoxx 50 dropping -0.3% (the U.K.’s FTSE 100 is providing all the support, gaining 0.4% here in the early going) while Asia experienced a mixed session (all market quotes time stamped to 5:15 a.m.). China could not build on yesterday’s gains, even with some positive news out of troubled developer Country Garden (investors clearly remain skeptical of China, and it will take more than just yesterday’s lending data for money to flow back into the country), with the Shanghai Composite dropping 0.2%, joining Singapore (-0.2%), Hong Kong (-0.4%) and Korea (-0.8%) in the red. On the other hand, Japan’s Nikkei 225 (+1.0%), Taiwan (+0.9%), and India (+0.2%) all finished positive on the day.