No comments today.  

No comments today.  

No comments today.  

With Alcoa's earning last night, the earning season officially kicked off. However, so far the earning season is not faring very well. Home Depot and Sears issued earning warnings this morning, so is the largest home builder D.R. Horton. And S&P's downgrade of subprime MBS didn't help either. Financial stocks are leading the way down. As I mentioned early, I suspect the stock market will trade in a very narrow range for the rest of this summer barring any unexpected events. So it is not that surprise to see some profit taking after 5 consecutive days gain. Bond yield dropped by more than 11bps and was in part caused by flight to quality caused by subprime issue and in part by concerns over retail sales. US dollar hits another record low with Euro. It is worth noting that Bank of Canada raised interest rate by 25bps this morning, which should provide short-term support to Canadian dollar. The move has already been expected by the market and there should be another one in the second half of this year.

There is no economy report due today and it is a light week as well. Earning season will officially kick off with tonight's Alcoa report. Oil stocks are doing well and are in part supported by $15B buyback from COP. There are also several buyout deals announced this morning. But overall, it is just one of those slow summer days.