US stocks extended their premarket lows after Caterpillar delivered sour results that saw a big miss with earnings with their outlook getting slashed due to global economic uncertainty. This was the first drop in quarterly earnings for Caterpillar in almost three years. Mining equipment sales were down 12% and sales in the Asia Pacific regions saw significant declines due to softening demand from China. The trade war has weighed on Caterpillar and the cautious commentary mirrors Texas Instruments warning from yesterday. Boeing shares bounced around after announcing mixed results that highlighted a cut to a cut to their monthly 787 production rate. No new charges for customer compensation were announced with today’s results. Earnings results have been mixed this week as we did see some standout performances from Thermo Fisher, Anthem, and Boston Scientific.
Safe-havens are in control this morning as money comes back to the bond market and the dollar.
China
China’s State Council also announced constructive updates on the trade front. They announced they will be supportive of increasing the imports of consumer goods and equipment, while reiterating their promise to increase agricultural purchases, and forex management. For the most part, they offered no new insights for the final details of the phase 1 trade deal. US stocks were modestly off the lows of the trade headlines.
Oil
Oil prices sold off early in London after Russian energy minister Novak dented optimism OPEC + was going to deliver deeper cuts at the December meetings. Novak noted that there is no official proposal from OPEC + members to change current production cut agreement.
Oil is softer on falling expectations OPEC + will deliver deeper production cuts and as US inventories continue to rise. The API report showed a 4.5 million barrel increase last week. The EIA report is also expected to see a 2.7 million barrel increase later this morning.
Gold
Despite today’s safe-haven theme, gold continues to struggle below the $1,500 an ounce level. It seems gold needs to see awful earnings results in order to reassert its longer-term bullish trend. Gold continues look to be stuck in a $1,480 to $1,500 range.
