A Lazy Day's Trade

Stocks are lazily drifting in the premarket with little catalyst for action ahead of the holiday weekend. Let’s not disturb the peace with a dose of reality. We would not want to spoil our stomachs even before we swallow our first Mai Tai. How dare those Europeans, though, jealous of our freedom I suppose and charging 13 major banks with shady activity. Your author here is a bit worried about what commentary may come from Ford (NYSE: F) today regarding the rising interest rate trend and how that might affect its forward sales efforts; Ford reports June sales and quarter results today. Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) is also reporting, and hopefully giving out free liquor to sooth our pain after it missed by $0.03. For more in-depth analysis and research visit our stock market blog.

Our founder earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. "The Greek" has written for institutional newsletters, Businessweek, Real Money, Seeking Alpha and others, while also appearing across TV and radio. While writing for Wall Street Greek, Mr. Kaminis presciently warned of the financial crisis.

Lazy Days

Market ETF	July 2, 2013	Year-to-Date
SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)	-0.2%	+13.2%
SPDR Dow Jones (DIA)	-0.1%	+14.6%
PowerShares (QQQ)	-0.0%	+10.0%

Stock futures were modestly lower in the premarket, with little to move on and ahead of the holiday weekend.

Economic Events

ECONOMIC REPORT SCHEDULE
Economic Data Point	Prior Period	Expected	Actual
MONDAY
Motor Vehicle Sales	12.1 M	12.2 M
Factory Orders	+1.0%	+2.0%
ICSC Store Sales	+1.1	NA

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) reported same-store sales increased 0.6% week-to-week in the period ending June 29. It was slower growth than the prior week’s climb of 1.1%. On a year-over-year basis, sales increased 1.9% versus the 1.6% increase in the week before.

Today we get a firsthand look at how rising interest rates are affecting business when the monthly Motor Vehicle Sales data comes to the wire. You see, the sales of Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are critically tied to auto loan interest rates. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg see the annual pace of domestic vehicle sales increasing slightly to 12.2 million in June, up from 12.1 million in May. Total vehicle sales are expected to rise as well, to 15.5 million for June, versus 15.3 million for May. It is unlikely that rates have risen far enough to start meaningfully impacting auto sales, but if they continue rising, they will.

Factory Orders are expected to be stronger in today's report on May. Yesterday’s ISM Manufacturing Index improved to a point better than expected, to 50.9, but at that level it barely reflects expansion. It’ll be interesting to see if factory orders match this optimistic forecast.

The Federal Reserve is holding an open meeting today on banking rules and some proposed changes to those. Two Fed speakers are scheduled to address groups today, with New York Federal Reserve Bank President Dudley talking in Connecticut at lunch. Federal Reserve Governor Powell will give a speech on international financial regulatory reform at a dinner in New York.

Overseas Markets

EUROPE	7:35 AM ET	ASIA/PACIFIC	CLOSE
EURO STOXX 50	-0.7%	NIKKEI 225	+1.8%
German DAX	-1.0%	Hang Seng	-0.7%
CAC 40	-0.6%	S&P/ASX 200	+2.6%
FTSE 100	-0.4%	Korean KOSPI	-0.0%
Greek ASE	-0.9%	BSE India SENSEX	-0.6%

European markets were shocked today on the EU’s charge that 13 top investment banks blocked exchange access to lucrative credit derivative market deals. Fines are expected for the banks including Citigroup (NYSE: C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Barclays (NYSE: BCS), Bear Stearns, BNP Paribas (BNPQY.PK), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), HSBC (NYSE: HBC), J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM), UBS (NYSE: UBS) and RBS (NYSE: RBS). Also, Portugal’s Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar unexpectedly resigned under the pressure of the nation’s imposed austerity program. Good news in Spain though (they lost to Brazil in soccer this weekend so they could use it); unemployment improved for the fourth month in a row.

Commodity Markets (7:20 AM ET)

WTI Crude	+0.4%
Brent Crude	+0.3%
NYMEX Natural Gas	+1.2%
RBOB Gasoline	+1.0%
Gold Spot	+0.6%
Silver Spot	+0.1%
COMEX Copper	-0.4%
CBOT Corn	+0.5%
CBOT Wheat	+1.7%
CBOT Soybeans	+0.4%
ICE Cocoa	+0.1%
ICE Sugar	+0.1%
ICE Orange Juice Conc.	+1.2%
CME Live Cattle	+0.2%

Corporate Events

REPORTING EARNINGS
Company	Ticker
TUESDAY
Ford Motor	NYSE: F
Acuity Brands	NYSE: AYI
Greenbrier Cos.	NYSE: GBX
Constellation Brands	NYSE: STZ
Zep	NYSE: ZEP

Ford (NYSE: F) is up 0.6% in the premarket as it prepares to report its June sales and also its second quarter results. Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) is lower by 2.3% in the premarket on its fiscal quarter report showing an EPS miss of $0.03 against expectations. AAON Inc. (Nasdaq: AAON) is set to split 3-for-2 at the close today.

MOST ACTIVE STOCKS – 7/1/13

BIGGEST GAINERS

ONYX Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ONXX)

TrovaGene (Nasdaq: TROVU)

Repros Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RPRXW)

Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO)

News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA)

National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG)

Ambient (Nasdaq: AMBT)

UQM Technologies (NYSE: UQM)

Spherix (Nasdaq: SPEX)

Prima BioMed (Nasdaq: PBMD)

BIGGEST LOSERS

Blue Wolf Mongolia (Nasdaq: MNGL)

Insmed (Nasdaq: INSM)

Document Security (NYSE: DSS)

TherapeuticsMD (Nasdaq: TXMD)

FalconStor Software (Nasdaq: FALC)

InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC)

Stereotaxis (Nasdaq: STXS)

Radio One (Nasdaq: ROIA)

Alvarion (Nasdaq: ALVR)

Twenty-First Century Fox (NYSE: FOX)

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.