Advertisement
U.S. markets open in 1 hour 59 minutes
  • S&P Futures

    5,194.25
    -20.50 (-0.39%)
     
  • Dow Futures

    39,139.00
    -84.00 (-0.21%)
     
  • Nasdaq Futures

    18,128.00
    -103.50 (-0.57%)
     
  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,042.40
    -7.40 (-0.36%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    82.69
    -0.03 (-0.04%)
     
  • Gold

    2,158.50
    -5.80 (-0.27%)
     
  • Silver

    25.16
    -0.11 (-0.44%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0848
    -0.0028 (-0.26%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3400
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • Vix

    14.76
    +0.43 (+3.00%)
     
  • dólar/libra

    1.2690
    -0.0038 (-0.30%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    150.4340
    +1.3360 (+0.90%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    62,501.29
    -5,848.96 (-8.56%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,704.34
    -18.21 (-0.24%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,003.60
    +263.20 (+0.66%)
     

OPEC — What you need to know in markets on Friday

A quiet June week for schedule economic and earnings data has turned into a headache for investors.

The Dow dropped on Thursday for the eighth-straight day and tech stocks — which hit a new record on Wednesday — were the market laggard.

Commodities markets will be alert on Friday with the latest meeting of OPEC set to take place Vienna.

In a note to clients last week, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said they expect OPEC to announce a modest increase to its oil production targets. On Thursday, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil settled at $65.

A Reuters report on Thursday indicated that OPEC members were struggling to agreed on by how much they’d raise production targets, with tensions appearing to develop around Iran’s agreeability to new production goals.

Two persons pass the logo of the Organization of the Petroleoum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in front of OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Two persons pass the logo of the Organization of the Petroleoum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in front of OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

The biggest market-mover Thursday was a decision from the Supreme Court which said that online retailers must now charge state sales tax in states where they do not have a physical presence.

Previously, sales tax was only charged by online retailers in states where they did have a warehouse or store.

This news sent shares of e-commerce companies including Amazon (AMZN), Etsy (ETSY), Wayfair (W), and Overstock.com (OSTK) down sharply, though only Overstock — which lost 7% on Thursday — finished with a loss more than 2%.

Economists at Goldman Sachs said Thursday that the impact on inflation from this increase in the cost of online goods is likely to be “modest” and should not have an impact on growth. Additionally, Goldman noted that according to estimates from the GAO, consumers currently pay sales tax on 80% of sales made by online retailer but only 25% of online marketplaces.

This indicates that platforms like Etsy, Wayfair, and Houzz could be more vulnerable to changes in consumer behavior as a result of this ruling.

With Thursday marking the summer solstice, Friday will be the first official summer Friday. The economic calendar and earnings schedule are both positively summer-like with the preliminary reading on manufacturing activity in June due out from Markit Economics and earnings out of CarMax (KMX) the only expected highlights.

Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland

Advertisement