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Indices rose Friday, with the S&P closing at 1,065, a 1.7% increase. The DIJA rose by 165 points or 1.7%, ending at 10,561. The Nasdaq Composite also rose by 1.7% that Friday.

Some of our most popular technology stocks, however, have announced important 3rd quarter reports. Intel estimated sales of $11 billion for the third quarter rather than its previous estimate of $11.2 to $12 billion in sales. HP and Dell are both vying over 3Par, a company offering customized storage solutions for mid to large-size companies.

The Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke vowed Friday to do all he can to prevent deflation in the US.
The dollar fell along with oil prices, which ended Tuesday at $72.39 a barrel. Gold ended at $1,233.40 an ounce. Wheat prices continue to rise after Russia declared a moratorium on wheat due to a drought.

The US unemployment rate remained at 9.5% this month, although the private sector added 71,000 jobs.

Home sales in the US sunk 27% in July, to their lowest level in 15 years.

World Markets
China reported a fall in growth in July for the first time in 16 months. This week China is expected to release its GDP growth for the 2nd quarter as well as balance of trade reports, which will give analysts information on future growth and investment or if the fall is a trend. India will also release growth figures. Analysts expect 8% growth to be announced. Analysts predict that India will catch up more to China in terms of growth rate this year.

The European Central Bank will unveil latest interest-rate decision on Thursday. It is likely to leave the rate unchanged, a confirmation that continue with relaxed lending policies until the end of the year.

Carrefour reported this week a net profit of Euro 82 million as it seeks to expand to markets in Brazil and China.
Vivendi, French media and telecom group also reported today a 6.6% rise in profit to 1.26 billion Euros for the first half of the year.

Currencies
The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the Yen. The euro fell to a 9-year low against the yen, and the British pound to 3-month low against the yen. The strength of the yen causes concern for exporters.

In a move made to compete with Skype and possibly Apple, Google is now offering a feature which allows users to use the phone to contact one another via Gmail. It will be interesting to see if Google will provide better reception than that of the iPhone. And if it eventually provides the ability to use this from a mobile phone, then it will truly compete with the iPhone as a service provider.
For now, the feature is only available in the US, but once it is available throughout the world, it will be interesting to see how this will affect the price of Google stock. Advanced investors may be able to take advantage of binary options and game the news ticker, watching carefully for when Google makes the feature available worldwide and when it expands features. You can see our previous entry written in March for more of an explanation on how to use this strategy to make a return on your investment.

Of course, not everyone agrees that China will be growing so fast. A couple of major problems loom: China’s GDP has indeed been growing rapidly in the last 30 years, but that could be because it has a while until it reaches a high rank. Chinese GDP is still below the 100th rank in the global economy. Another factor making it difficult for China to climb to the top is the state of the current global economy, the decrease in demand for exports and the rise of unemployment.
Some experts even feel that China’s GDP will fall in the next few years. Hedging might be a great binary options and forex strategy for traders of forex and binary options for those who are cynical about the Chinese takeover of the world.

What this means for traders:
Traders might want to pay attention to the Asian currencies, in particular the yuan, the Chinese currency which the Chinese government decided earlier to peg to the dollar (see our previous post). This in turn makes Chinese exports more expensive, but imports cheaper. Be on the lookout for trades connected to rises in production expense and major companies such as Wallmart and Target, who have overseas factories. Other companies which have been cheaper alternatives to American products, such as Toyota and Honda, may also present good binary options opportunities.

What this means for trade operators:
Chinese stocks and markets are a new opportunity for traders. The Asian market will also be influenced by its #2 neighbor. Read more about online trading in the binary options market.

China has beat Japan as the second-largest economy in the world. With an average GDP growth of 10% for the last 30 years, a population of 1.4 billion, first place in the world’s and consumption and production of coal, steel and energy, and the world’s largest exporter and second-largest importer of good, the country stands a chance at becoming number one soon. (It is also ranks first-place in the world in coal production).

Other news in China is the country’s allowing foreign investors to invest in the Chinese market. A pilot program will allow foreign investors to buy bonds in the Chinese market using Chinese currency.
Shanghai is set to become a world leader in finance by 2020. As a result, they are tapping into corporate investment abroad and could allow foreign companies to sell shares in Shanghai as early as next year. Rumor persists that Shanghai may allow foreign investment in yuan-dominated private equity and venture capital funds as well in the near future.

Since the yuan ended its peg against the dollar on June 19 it has risen by .5 percent. Announcement of the end of the peg causes a 4.8 percent increase in Hong Kong yuan deposits in June. China is now making it easier for yuan transactions between banks and companies in Hong Kong as well as those transferring cash in order to buy wealth-management products.
The rise of the yuan currency combined with rising sentiment about China’s future could make it a good short-term investment for binary options and forex traders.

Markets Pulse is proud to announce its launch of a new binary options site in partnership with FXTrade. FXTrade is one of the leading online forex companies in Japan, allowing traders to invest in online forex options, and now online binary options. This is the first time a binary options platform is being integrated into an existing forex site and we are excited about this groundbreaking development. See our site at: http://demo2.fxtrade.co.jp.

If you’ve seen “Love and Death,” there’s a quote there about wheat. As the story takes place in Russia, it is suitable for a country who is the world’s top exporter of grain.

Russia’s five-month drought brought a ban on wheat exports. As Russia is one of the main producers of wheat, this is has driven up the price of wheat to its highest in two years on August 5. The price of corn is related to the price of wheat, as both are used for animal feed. Traders who find that grain futures are soaring may instead choose to invest in soybeans and corn, although corn is rising along with rice.

What this means for you:
Traders might want to capitalize on this market trend for short-term binary options. Traders can place trades on wheat and hedge it with trades on soybeans and corn, perhaps more stable investments.
Operators might want to add more instances of commodities options to their sites for traders to benefit.

Best Month in a Year
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One great way to make binary options work to your advantage is to trade based on monthly and quarterly earnings reports. Options can be predicted to rise or fall shortly before these news releases. If you do the research you can capitalize on these movements in the market. But more on this strategy at a later posting. Now let’s concentrate on our monthly report.
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Stocks did better this month than they have in an entire year. Sixteen of the thirty DOW stocks ended higher at the end of July, including Home Depot (up 1.6% at $28.51) and Boeing (up 1.4% at $68.14). Intel (down 1.7% to $34.46) and Merck (down 1.7% to $34.46) ended lower than expected.

Stock Market Summary

DOW- ended at 10,466 points, rising 7.1% for the month. Earlier in the day the DOW fell almost 120 points, but it ended a point below the day’s opening. It ended with a fall of .01% for the day.

Nasdaq Composite Index– ended three points higher, at 2,255.

DAX- Germany’s DAX index rose .2%.

IBEX- Spain’s IBEX fell 1.2%.

Nikkei- Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.6%.

S&P 500- ended at the same rate at 1,102, rising 6.9% for the month and .01% for the day.

News Events of the Month-

Technology News-

Research in Motion (RIMM) shares jumped 3.3% to $57.53 after announcing its plans to release a tablet competing with Apple’s iPad in November, the “Blackpad.” In addition, it will announce a rival to the iPhone next week.

Economic News-

The US government reported slow growth in the period of April to June, with a GDP of an annual rate of 2.4% in the 2nd quarter compared with the 2.5% predicted by economists.

Spain’s credit rating is likely to be cut, as it faces mounting unemployment at 20% and rising debt.

Congress voted on a $2 billion cash for clunkers program, a new program offering Americans a cash incentive for trading in gas guzzling automobile for fuel efficient alternatives. This program should help stimulate the automobile industry.

Currencies-
The dollar rose against the British pound and Euro but fell against the yen.

Savings and Consumer Spending-
Consumer sentiment for July rose to 67.8 and not the expected 66.5.

Commodity Market
Oil, gold, and copper all rose in price.
Gold- $13.30 to $1,181.70 per ounce.
Copper- up 2.15 cents to $3.3115 a pound, up 12% for July.
Oil- closed at $78.95, up 4.39% from last month.

Employment
Increased to 9.6% from 9.5% for last month for the US market.
Private employers added 90,000 jobs to the payroll, an improvement since June.

Sales and Manufacturing
Manufacturing activity slowed to its lowest level since December. Reports of Midwest manufacturing rose to 62.3 this month from 59.1 for last month.

Apple’s quarterly profit shot up by 78% due to sales of its iPad and latest version of the iPhone 4. This was in $1 billion more in revenue than Wall Street had predicted, and Apple’s 4th quarter revenue is projected to be $18 billion.

The 3rd quarter increase in sales is in spite of consumer and media reports and media which have both announced a problem in reception with the iPhone4. Steve Jobs’ reaction was to sell free cases for the phones.
It is also in stark contrast to other technology stocks, such as Intel, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, and Yahoo all dropped in the 3rd quarter.

Of these three, Microsoft is the leader in profit, with $4.25 billion compared with Apple’s $3.25 billion and Google’s $1.8 billion. Profit dollars come from the release of Windows 7 (with 175 million copies sold), Bing, and Office 2010. Microsoft has announced that it will later release a smartphone and the Kinect.

Public announcements of stock sales is an excellent time to invest in binary options, as we will discuss in a later post.

Major Events of the Week

US stocks decrease after Bernanke testified to Congress and reported a “unusually uncertain” economic outlook. This week Obama signed the Wall Street Reform Bill, which calls for more government regulations for loans and financial products and the creation of a new agency, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

BP announced this week the successful capping of the oil leak and that no more oil being leaked into the Gulf. Shares in BP increased after the announcement, but a brewing storm in the Caribbean might reopen the leak.

A short look at the week’s closing:

Stock Market Summary
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell by 164 points at one point and closed at 10120.53
S&P Stock Index fell by 13.89 points to close at 1069.59
The Nasdaq fell by 35.16 points to close at 2,187.33 due to the drop in technology stocks.

Commodity Market
Oil dropped to below $78 a barrel

Currencies
Dollar rose against the Euro
Yen rose against the dollar

Stock Markets Summary – These are the quotes from the end of the day on Friday
Dow Jones Industrial Average – ended at 9,686.48, a 5% drop for the week.
S&P- Dropped 4.79 points, a drop of 5% for the week.
NASDAQ- Dropped 9.57 points to 2,091.79.

These are the major events from this month:

Wall Street Reform Bill was drafted, and is expected to pass through Congress and reach the President in July.

G20 Summit agreed to get deficits of important countries’ governments under control.

Currencies
The dollar index ended last week at 84.41, reaching its lowest level in two months.

Savings and Consumer Spending
Spending rose slightly higher in May compared to April, suggesting increased consumer confidence. Savings also rose compared to last month.

Commodity Market
Oil- Crude oil prices for August fell to $77.96 a barrel.
Gold- COMEX gold’s August contract fell $16.60 to $1,239.20 per ounce. Gold futures rose a dollar in expectation of the holiday weekend.

Employment
The jobless rate decreased by .2%, from 9.5% in June from 9.7% in May.
Nonfarm payrolls for June fell by 125,000, whereas private payrolls for June increased by 83,000, which is an improvement from the 33,000 private payrolls that were added last month.
New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose by 13,000 in the week ended June 26 to 472,000, the Labor Department said, a sign that companies remain reluctant to hire.

Sales and Manufacturing
Retail sales fell in May for the first time in eight months. The manufacturing index fell 3.5 points in June to 56.2, the lowest level this year.

Housing
Home sales declined last month to 300,000, a 32.7% decrease from 446,000 the previous month.