Morning Briefing: Greece deal hopes boost markets; Oil higher

Greece deal hopes boost markets; Oil higher... Oil demand will slow next year says IEA... PC sales down 10 per cent... Ford moving production from Michigan...

Steve Randall
Greece deal hopes boost markets; Oil higher
Hopes that the latest proposals from Greece will result in a deal to avoid financial disaster and a Eurozone exit have boosted markets so far Friday. Asian indexes have closed with gains on higher sentiment and China’s main indexes continued their upward trajectory following a slump earlier in the week. Tokyo was the weak player as retail shares disappointed. In Europe the markets are gaining with optimism over Greece with banks seeing some of the biggest gains.

US stock futures are trending higher. Oil is trending higher (Brent $59.06, WTI $53.12 at 6.15am ET) Gold is trending higher.
 
Today’s data
Wholesale trade at 10am ET
Fed chair Janet Yellen speaks at 12pm ET
Daybreak Oil, Levi Strauss and Schmitt are among the companies reporting earnings today.
 
Oil demand will slow next year says IEA
It’s not the forecast that the already-badly-hit oil sector needs but the International Energy Agency says that demand for oil will fall in 2016. The new report says that financial turmoil in Greece and China has shaken markets and that the disparity between supply and demand has “yet to run its course”. The EIA forecasts that in 2016 demand will slow to 1.2 million barrels per day from the current 1.4 million. Despite rising prices in April and May there has been a drop in recent weeks.
 
PC sales down 10 per cent
As Microsoft prepares to launch its latest incarnation of the Windows operating system figures show that sales of PCs are down 10 per cent. The market has slipped for two years but was expected to rebound in 2015 but research from Gartner shows a 10 per cent drop year-over-year and this may be exacerbated by the Windows 10 launch which will enable users of two previous versions to get a free upgrade.
 
Ford moving production from Michigan
Ford has announced that it is moving production of some of its vehicles from Michigan to an unnamed alternative. The Focus and C-Max models will no longer be made in the factory near Detroit and there is speculation that Mexico will be the replacement. Ford announced a $2.5 billion investment in its Mexican plants recently. 
 

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