European stocks broadly lower ahead of earnings; Dax down 0.32%

Investing.com - European stocks were broadly lower on Tuesday, as markets were jittery ahead of upcoming earnings reports, although upbeat German trade data lent support, as well as comments made by European Central Bank Vice President Benoit Coeure over the weekend.

During European morning trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.24%, France’s CAC 40 edged down 0.15%, while Germany’s DAX slid 0.32%.

Official data earlier showed that Germay''s trade surplus widened to €18.8 billion in May, from €17.2 billion in April whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated €17.7 billion. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to €16.4 billion in May.

European equities found support on Monday after ECB Vice President Benoit Coeure said Sunday that rates will remain on hold for an extended period to ensure monetary stability in the euro zone.

The ECB left all rates on hold at its meeting last Thursday, after cutting rates to record lows in June in a bid to stave off the threat of persistently low inflation in the region.

Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) and BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) retreated 0.48% and 0.85%, while Germany''s Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) tumbled 1.29%.

Among peripheral lenders, Italy''s Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) and Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) declined 0.81% and 0.82% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) and BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) slid 0.31% and 0.81%.

Elsewhere, Air France-KLM (PARIS:AIRF) plunged 5.38% after the airline cut its full-year earnings forecast amid overcapacity on North American and Asian routes, poor demand for freight and the fallout from a dispute with Venezuela.

In London, FTSE 100 slipped 0.22%, weighed by losses in the financial sector.

Shares in Barclays (LONDON:BARC) dipped 0.06% and HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) edged down 0.18%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) dropped 0.88% and Lloyds Banking (LONDON:LLOY) lost 1.08%.

Meanwhile, mining stocks were mostly higher as Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT) rose 0.28% and Glencore Xstrata (LONDON:GLEN) jumped 1.05%, while Fresnillo (LONDON:FRES) and Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) saw shares rally 1.24% and 1.25% respectively.

Marks & Spencer (LONDON:MKS) added to gains, up 0.78%, after the clothing retailer said quarterly revenue at its food unit climbed 1.7%. The company also reported a 12th straight quarterly drop in non-food sales.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to lower open. The Dow 30 futures pointed to a 0.07% loss, S&P 500 futuressignaled a 0.13% fall, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% dip.

Source:

www.jpost.com

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Cupcake Shop Crumbs Shuttering All Its Stores

rumbs says it is shuttering all its stores, a week after the struggling cupcake shop operator was delisted from the Nasdaq.

The New York City-based company said all employees were notified of the closures Monday. A representative for Crumbs could not immediately say how many workers were affected or how many stores it had remaining on its last day.

"Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations and is immediately attending to the dislocation of its employees while it evaluates its limited remaining options," the company said in an emailed statement. That will include filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.

A press release from its website in March listed 65 locations in 12 states and Washington, D.C. The website had not been updated with notification of the closures late Monday.

Crumbs was founded in 2003 and went public in 2011, selling giant cupcakes in flavors including Cookie Dough and Girl Scouts Thin Mints. More recently, however, it had been suffering from a steep decline in sales. For the three months ending March 31, Crumbs Bake Shop Inc. reported a loss of $3.8 million, steeper than the loss of $2 million from the same period a year ago.

The company had warned in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this past May that it "may be forced to curtail or cease its activities" if its operations didn't generate enough cash flow.

As of the end of last year, Crumbs listed about 165 full-time employees and about 655 part-time hourly employees working in its stores.

Source:

abcnews.go.com

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Dollar falls against yen, Fed minutes in focus

A money changer holds stacks of US dollar notes in Jakarta, August 29, 2013.

The dollar weakened on Monday against the Japanese yen as investors continued to digest last week’s strong U.S. employment report and speculated about when the Federal Reserve is likely to begin raising U.S. interest rates.

The yen gained as long-dated U.S. Treasuries rallied, stemming a week-long bond selloff heading into Thursday's employment report, which showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 288,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.3 percent in May.

The next major focus will be the release on Wednesday of minutes from the Fed’s June meeting, which will be scoured for signs about when central bank members see an interest rate increase as likely.

“The discussion won’t reflect the strong bounce in nonfarm payrolls, but will serve as a reference as to what the internal debate is in the FOMC regarding the first rate hike,” said Martin Schwerdtfeger, a foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities in Toronto.

Goldman Sachs economists on Monday brought forward their expectations of the first rate increase to the third quarter of 2015 from the first quarter of 2016, following similar actions from some other banks last week.

The dollar fell 0.27 percent against the yen to 101.84 yen, down from 102.10 yen late on Friday.

The dollar also slipped 0.01 percent against the euro to $1.3604. It had strengthened to $1.3577 earlier on Monday after data showed German industrial output fell 1.8 percent on the month in May, its biggest drop in more than two years.

The weak German data kept alive expectations the European Central Bank may need to loosen monetary policy further in coming months in the face of disinflationary pressures and subdued economic growth.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a broad basket of currencies, was unchanged at 80.220, down from an earlier high of 80.359, the highest in a week-and-a-half.

Source:

www.reuters.com

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