The lower-than-expected Chinese GDP data, which showed a 6.3% growth year-on-year, while 7.1% was expected, fueled concerns how this will affect the global economy, although it also raised hopes among investors that the country will deploy a massive government stimulus.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones, the S&P500 and the Nasdaq all managed to end the session in the green. The tech sector was led by the usual popular ones, those who have something to do with artificial intelligence, namely Nvidia and Broadcom, as well as Tesla. US investors are awaiting quarterly corporate results with a degree of serenity. They were buoyed by comments made by US finance chief Janet Yellen, who said in an interview with Bloomberg that the US should not enter recession. I don't know whether this statement by the former Fed boss caused her successor to choke, as for months now he has been throwing tons of ice water on the overheated US economy to extinguish inflation. But it's clear that the market prefers to listen to Janet rather than Jerome.

In Europe, the French CAC40 dropped, hampered by the fall of its luxury goods segment. Big names such as LVMH, Hermès and Kering were hit by the double impact of mediocre macroeconomic data from China, the sector's cash cow, and disappointing performances from Swiss rival Compagnie Financière Richemont.

On Asia-Pacific markets, China's inability to accelerate remains the dominant topic, especially as concerns about the real estate sector seem to be resurfacing. Property developer China Evergrande is back in the news due to heavy losses, while its rival Dalian Wanda has warned of weak financing for one of its subsidiaries.

Today's news is dominated by a series of economic data in the United States, and by the results of a number of emblematic companies, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab.

Retail Sales were already published earlier this morning and recorded a 0.2% increase on a monthly basis in June. This is quite a bit lower than the 0.5% expected. This could be another sign that inflation is cooling. However, the 0.3% growth recorded in May got revised to 0.5%.

Futures were all slightly in the red this morning as investors assessed the earnings reports of Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. BoA recorded a 20% surge in second-quarter profit, while Morgan Stanley saw its earnings drop 18%, hampered by a lack of deals.

It seems that big retail banks are doing ok, since JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo both said on Friday they got a boost in their earnings thanks to higher rates, which points to a resilient economy.

Today's economic highlights:

Four US indicators today: retail sales, June industrial production, May business inventories and the NAHB house price index for July. The full agenda is here. 

The dollar is flat against the euro and the pound, at EUR 0.8902 and GBP 0.7642. The ounce of gold climbs back up to USD 1960. Oil stabilizes, with North Sea Brent at USD 78.61 a barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 74.27. The yield on 10-year US debt reached 3.80%. Bitcoin returns under the USD 30,000 mark.

In corporate news:

  • Morgan Stanley - Group earnings fell by 18% in the second quarter, as a low number of M&A deals weighed on the investment bank's revenues. Profit applicable to shareholders fell to $1.24 per diluted share for the three months to June 30, the bank said on Tuesday.
  • Bank of America - Group earnings rose nearly 20% in the second quarter, while profit applicable to shareholders rose to $0.88 per diluted share for the three months to June 30, from $0.73 a year earlier, the bank said Tuesday.
  • Omnicom Group is due to publish its quarterly accounts on Tuesday.
  • Bank of New York Mellon, a regional bank, was up 1.2% in pre-market trading after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter adjusted earnings. Charles Schwab, whose results are also awaited, gained 1.9% in pre-market trading.
  • Lockheed Martin gained 0.9% in premarket trading ahead of Tuesday's publication of the group's quarterly results, scheduled before the opening of trading in New York.
  • Tesla is due to hold an information meeting for the residents of the German state of Brandenburg on Tuesday, concerning the planned expansion of its electric vehicle and battery plant, which would make the site the country's largest in the automotive sector. In addition, according to Counterpoint Research, Tesla is expected to sell over 1.9 million vehicles this year. The stock gained 0.4% in pre-market trading.
  • The White House and companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Best Buy are due to present a project this Tuesday to protect so-called smart devices against cyber-attacks.
  • Morgan Stanley and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced on Tuesday their intention to collaborate in the foreign exchange market and in Japanese research and equity activities for institutional clients.

Analyst recommendations:

  • Activision Blizzard: Atlantic Equities LLP downgrades to neutral from overweight. PT up 1.9% to $95.
  • Ameriprise: Baptista Research LLP initiated coverage with a recommendation of hold. PT set to $361.
  • Apple: Jefferies keeps Buy rating. Previously set at USD 210, the target price has been raised to USD 225.
  • Burberry: Citigroup remains neutral with a price target reduced from 2300 to 2160 GBp.
  • Camden Property: BMO Capital Markets upgrades to outperform from market perform. PT up 14% to $126.
  • Casey's: Credit Suisse upgrades to outperform from neutral. PT up 15% to $285.
  • Celanese: Deutsche Bank cut its recommendation to hold. PT up 3.3% to $125.
  • FactSet: Autonomous initiated coverage with a recommendation of outperform. PT set to $475.
  • JPMorgan: UBS keeps Buy rating. Previously set at USD 165, the target price has been raised to USD 175.
  • Masimo: Stifel downgrades to hold from buy. PT down 18% to $120.
  • Netflix: Jefferies is keeping its Buy rating. Previously set at USD 440, the target price has been raised to USD 520.
  • Synthomer: Peel Hunt downgrades to hold from add. PT jumps 64% to 125 pence.