GEN: On The Fly: Morning Wrap-Up for Friday, July 27 - Globex SP' futures trading 0.75 below previous night's SPX cash close. Nikkei 225 17,283.81 down 2.36%, DAX 30 down 0.33%. WTI Crude oil $75.22 up 0.36%. Gold $674.70. LME Copper down 0.06%. International Financial Head Lines: Volkswagen reported 1st half net profit rose 65% on the year due to improved car sales and lower costs. ING reached an agreement to purchase Santander Central Hispano's Latin American pension business for $1.3 billion. Michelin, the French tire manufacturer reported 1st half profits increased 58% on strong tire sales and cost controls. Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker, reported 1st quarter sales rose 15%. U.S. Financial Headlines: Medtronic-MDT announced the purchase of Kyphon-KYPH, a developer & marketer of medical devices for the spin, for $3.9 billion. Fortune Brands-FO reported 2nd quarter net sales rose 4% to $2.35 billion. Dow Jones & Bloomberg.
GEN: On The Fly: Asian Markets Wrap-Up for Friday, July 27th - Asian markets suffered their worst defeat on Friday, sparked by Wall Street's 400 point drop... TAIWAN: Shares slid the most in a year today, erasing $32.5B of market value, on the U.S. market's decline. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) fell the most in over a year, 6.2%, after reporting Q2 profits fell 25% from a year ago. Cathay Financial Holding, the nation's largest life insurer, sank 7% after Goldman Sachs cut shares to Neutral from Buy. The Taiex lost 404.14 points on Friday, closing 4.2% lower, to 9162.28 in Taipei. The benchmark dropped 4.4% for the week, its first weekly drop in nearly three months... JAPAN: Stocks fell the most in over four months on concerns that the U.S. housing slump will impact the American economy. Exporters that rely on U.S. sales took the brunt of the damage, as Canon Inc (CAJ) and Nintendo Co (NTDOY) closed 5.5% and 6.2% lower, respectively. Exporters were also hurt when the yen rose to a three-month high against the dollar, diminishing overseas earnings. Refiners took a beating as well after Exxon Mobil (XOM) reported its steepest decline in five years... AROUND ASIA: Indexes in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia all fell more than 3%, while China was the only nation not to succumb to the pressure, the benchmark was virtually unchanged... Data gathered from Bloomberg website
Source:fly on the wall