Stock futures today: live updates

European stocks rose cautiously in early trade, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 up 0.9%.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.14%, although Britain’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX fell 0.07% and 0.04%, respectively.

China Trade surplus for the month of June It reached $70.62 billion in June, higher than the $65.81 billion recorded in May, but less than the $74.8 billion expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Exports and imports also fell more than expected, with exports down 12.4% from a year ago and imports down 6.8% from the same period last year.

Lu Daliang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Customs Bureau, said at a press conference on Thursday that China’s trade still faced fairly big pressures in the second half of the year, partly due to rising inflation in developed countries and geopolitics.

– Lim Hwi Ji

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the best performing Asian benchmark on Thursday, rising around 2.5% led by health care and basic materials stocks.

R&D Wuxi Biologics was the biggest gainer in the index, up 8.67%, while other index leaders also include online healthcare platform JD Health and Alibaba Health Information Technology, a subsidiary of the larger Alibaba Group.

Both stocks rose 8.66% and 6.70%, respectively, on Thursday.

South Korea’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5%It is the fourth consecutive meeting held by the BoK after raising interest rates last January.

The bank wrote that although the country’s inflation rate continues to slow, it is expected to rise above the BoK’s target level of 2% for “a significant period of time.”

The BoK also expects inflation to rise to around 3% after August, and added that the need for an additional increase will be judged “while evaluating changes in domestic and foreign policy conditions.”

South Korea’s inflation rate came in at 2.7% for the month of June, which is at its lowest level since September 2021.

– Lim Hwi Ji

New Zealand factory activity experienced a sharper contraction in June, with the Manufacturing PMI standing at 47.6, down from the 48.9 recorded in May.

The reading means New Zealand’s manufacturing sector remained in contraction territory for the fourth consecutive month, and is at the lowest level of activity since November 2022.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

– Lim Hwi Ji

The Federal Trade Commission has filed an appeal against a federal judge’s decision that would have helped pave the way for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard.

The FTC’s move comes a day after a San Francisco federal judge denied the agency’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the $68.7 billion deal. The FTC considers the acquisition anticompetitive, arguing that Microsoft may make some of its games exclusive to its consoles or reduce the experience of Activision games on other services.

The two companies are trying to close the deal by July 18th.

Read more about the FTC’s appeal here.

Activision shares were down 0.5% in extended trading, while Microsoft shares were flat.

–Darla Mercado, Jordan Novate

Expect growth to slow and inflation to persist later in the year, according to Brian Weinstein of Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

“I think inflation — not in the next two or three months, but as we get closer to the fourth quarter — will be flat and I think growth will start to come down because the Fed has raised rates so much and we haven’t seen the effects yet,” the firm’s head of fixed income said in the program. Closing Bell” on CNBC on Wednesday.

Weinstein said that means investors should have a mix of cash and carry. He highlighted bank loans, emerging markets and high yield.

Weinstein added that once the 10-year Treasury yield exceeds 4%, investors may want to consider adding term to their fixed income portfolios. Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of a bond’s price to changes in interest rates, and issues with longer maturities tend to have longer duration.

–Darla Mercado

Shares of Viasat sank about 20% in extended trade after the company disclosed a problem with its recently launched communications satellite.

The company said on Wednesday that a malfunction occurred during the reflector deployment process that could hamper the performance of its Viasat-3 Americas satellite, which was launched in April.

“We are disappointed by the latest developments,” Mark Dankberg, chief executive of Viasat, said in a statement.

– Michael Sheetz, Samantha Sobin

Shares of Disney rose slightly in overnight trading after the entertainment company extended its contract with CEO Bob Iger through 2026.

Earlier this year, he told CNBC he had no plans to stay in the position for more than two years. He returned to Disney as CEO last year after the sudden departure of Bob Chapek, with the contract due to expire in 2024.

– Sarah Whitten, Samantha Sobin

Stock futures opened slightly higher in overnight trading on Wednesday.

Futures related to the S&P 500 rose 0.08%, while futures on the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.14%. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27 points, or 0.08%.

– Samantha Sobin