The Traderszone Network

Unless next week’s payrolls report is an outlier, investors should expect a continuation of the directionless market that has kept the S&P 500 trading in place for most of the year. Should July post strong job gains, it would point to an economy strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

Pacific Rim trade ministers failed to clinch a deal on Friday to free up trade between a dozen nations after a dispute flared up over auto trade between Japan and North America, New Zealand dug in over dairy trade and no agreement was reached on monopoly periods for next-generation drugs. Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would stretch from Japan to Chile and cover 40 percent of the world economy, fell just short of a deal at talks on the Hawaiian island of Maui but were confident an agreement was within reach.

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Pension funds led by NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund of Illinois accused the bank of misleading investors about the risks associated with mortgage securities offerings. NECA-IBEW, an electrical workers’ pension fund, owned some mortgage-backed certificates underwritten by Goldman. Goldman and its rivals have faced many lawsuits by investors seeking to recoup losses on mortgage securities.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) shares dropped 4.58 percent while Chevron (CVX.N) lost 4.89 percent after reporting poor quarterly earnings due to weak oil prices. Despite the S&P’s negative close on Friday, half of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the utilities index’s (.SPLRCU) 0.98 percent rise leading the advancers.

Yahoo Inc said on Friday it agreed to buy fashion start-up Polyvore to help drive traffic and strengthen its mobile and social offerings. Yahoo, which did not disclose terms of the deal, said Polyvore …

Earnings at U.S. oil majors Exxon, which were the worst in a decade, and Chevron missed analysts’ expectations, adding to concerns that perhaps executives had not acted quickly enough to mitigate the impact of an over-50-percent drop in oil prices since last summer. The results highlight how smaller and more nimble U.S. shale oil companies have slashed costs faster and more aggressively than global majors.

As traders, market pundits and economists jaw over whether the Federal Reserve this year will lift its benchmark lending rate for the first time in almost a decade, several corners of the U.S. bond market are not waiting around. A wide range of short-term interest rates, which tend to be the most sensitive to Fed policy expectations, has been quietly grinding higher for weeks, or in some cases much longer.

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