Second quarter earnings may remain tough for earnings season. Record levels of unemployment are keeping consumers wary of spending both here in the United States and abroad. Earnings season begins on July 8, and we’ll get a better feel of the economic situation then.
President Barack Obama is in Russia this week, and already it’s been productive. Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev have announced a deal to cut back on their respective stockpiles of nuclear weapons, report Clifford J. Levy and Peter Baker for The New York Times.
Emerging markets continue to remain attractive as soft-drink giant Pepsi Co. (PEP) announced it will team up with its largest bottle maker, Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG), to invest $1 billion in Russia over the next three years. Pepsi Co. sees a bright future for Russia and feels that international sales can help make up for declines in domestic sales. Despite the uplifting news, the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) was down 4.9% in morning trading.
All three major U.S. indexes were down in morning trading with the Nasdaq leading the way declining by 1.3%, followed by the S&P 500 down by nearly 1% and then the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping nearly 0.7%.
Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.