• US stocks had another negative day yesterday, with the S&P500 extending losses to five straight days after retail bellwether Walmart (-4.5%) missed profit forecasts on higher tariff related costs. Investors also continue to remain cautious heading into the Jackson Hole Symposium. The S&P500 fell 0.4%, the Nasdaq dropped 0.34% whilst Europe was flat. In the US two of eleven sectors were positive with 32% of stocks higher on the day. Energy (+0.71%) and Materials (+0.26%) were the strongest sectors whilst Consumer Staples (-1.18%) and Utilities (-0.71%) were the weakest. Paramount Skydance shares rallied again yesterday, up 14.7% as excitement from retail investors in the business remains high. In Europe five of eleven sectors were positive with 42.3% of stocks up on the day. Energy (+0.68%) and Healthcare (+0.43%) were the strongest. Consumer Discretionary (-0.75%) and Materials (-0.74%) were the weakest. In macro news yesterday the Eurozone recorded a healthy composite PMI jump to 51.1, (50.9 Est) its highest level in fifteen months. The same story came through in the US with PMI up to 55.4 (53.5 Est), mainly led by manufacturing. UK PMI came in at 53.0 (51.6 Est). Finally in the US initial jobless claims ticked higher to 235k (225K Est) whilst existing home claims rose to 4.01M (3.92M Est) in July. Looking ahead to macro news today, in France the Manufacturing Confidence Index for August will be released. Undoubtedly all eyes will be on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium at 15:00. Elsewhere, the Fed’s Collins will speak to Bloomberg at 14:00 while Hammack will speak to CNBC at 16:30.
• Stock: We met with the IR team from Glanbia yesterday to discuss the company’s strong H1 results and medium-term outlook. Details on page 2 of the note.
• Debt: European yields rose yesterday due to a combination of higher oil prices and stronger Eurozone PMI numbers.

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