Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Assessing the scale of metal warehouse trades: Izzy takes readers through a Morgan Stanley report which discusses the metal warehouse trade, how significant it really was and how likely it is that it's unwinding now.
Comments and quibbles on China's mostly-strong July trade data: China's July trade data has come in surprisingly strong, but Kate argues that how you interpret it porbably depends on how you already view Chinese growth.
NEWS
Strong sales power Tesla: Shares in Tesla Motors, the electric carmaker, hit another new high in after-hours trading on Wednesday, despite a quarterly dip in revenues, as sales of its Model S beat expectations and deliveries began in Europe. Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, said the California-based manufacturer had delivered 5,150 electric vehicles in the three months to June 30, above its forecast of 4,500, as Tesla expands into Europe and Asia. (Financial Times)
China trade shows signs of recovery: Exports rose 5.1 per cent year on year, rebounding from a 3.1 per cent drop in June. Imports increased 10.9 per cent year on year, up from a 0.7 per cent fall in June. (Financial Times)
Google's android seizes smartphone market: Google's Android software has continued to steamroll the competition in smartphones, posing bigger problems for competitors. New data Wednesday from research firm IDC found that Apple's share of the global market slid to 13.2 per cent in the second quarter from 16.6 per cent in the year-earlier period. Handsets running Android, meanwhile, jumped to 79.3 per cent from 69.1 per cent. (Wall Street Journal)
New York Times is 'not for sale': The family that owns the New York Times declared the newspaper was "not for sale," making clear it wouldn't follow the decision of the Washington Post's family owners to exit the newspaper industry. (Wall Street Journal)
Commerzbank sees signs of growth: The bank said parts of its business were growing again even as it set aside more money for souring loans and lowered the value of its investments, moves which had threatened to overshadow improvements in the German lender's restructuring efforts. (Wall Street Journal)
Hilton signs up banks for IPO: The hotelier is making preparations for a return to the public markets, choosing four banks to manage a share sale as the hotel group's private-equity owner looks to capitalize on a rebounding real-estate market and strong investor demand for initial public offerings. (Wall Street Journal)
Investor relief as Groupon welcomes chief: Groupon has settled on Eric Lefkofsky as its new chief executive, promoting him from interim co-chief executive, five months after sacking its controversial founder, Andrew Mason. Investors welcomed the prospect of management stability, with the share surging almost 20 per cent in after-hours trading, helped along by second-quarter results which slightly exceeded revenue expectations and the announcement of a $300m share repurchase programme to be conducted over two years. (Financial Times)
JPMorgan faces new criminal probe over mortgages: The Department of Justice has opened a criminal probe into JPMorgan Chase's sale of mortgage-backed securities, a new front in the government's examination of the largest US bank by assets. (Financial Times)
Rio Tinto's first-half profit falls 71%: The miner said Thursday it held out little hope of a significant recovery in China's economy by the end of the year, as falling commodity prices drove down its first-half profit. The company said it also suffered a setback in its plans to boost shareholder returns through selling assets after failing to find a buyer for aluminum assets in Australia and New Zealand. (Wall Street Journal)
BNY Mellon unit sued by film executive's charity over losses: A British charity has sued a Bank of New York Mellon unit that managed its funds, saying risky investments caused losses of about £7.9m. (Bloomberg)
Nestle reports slowest first-half sales growth in 4 years: the world's biggest food company, reported the slowest first-half revenue growth in four years as price reductions and cold weather in Europe weighed on sales of ice cream and frozen food. (Bloomberg)
Markets: Renewed optimism over the Chinese economy helped reignite the global equity rally while energising commodities and recently hard-hit growth focused currencies, such as the Australian dollar. But bullish sentiment was being somewhat curtailed by another volatile session in Japan, where a strengthening yen pushed the Tokyo stock market to a six-week trough. The FTSE All-World equity index was up 0.1 per cent to 246.9, leaving it less than three points shy of a five-year high. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was adding 0.1 per cent at the open after the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan rose 0.7 per cent. US index futures suggested the S&P 500 would gain four points to 1,695, snapping a three-day losing streak that saw the benchmark slip 1.1 per cent from last week's record close.
