New York - Athens stock market reopens, Greek manufacturing PMI devastated, HSBC profits jump. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Athens stock exchange reopens
Following a shutdown that lasted five weeks, the Athens Stock Exchange reopened this morning. The ASE index was down a record 22 percent at the start of trading, with Greek bank shares falling as much as 30 percent.
Trading on the index is still restricted for Greeks due to continuing capital controls in the country.
PMI day
The stand-out number in this morning's round of Purchasing Managers' Index releases came from Greece, where PMI fell to an astonishingly low 30.2 according to data from Markit Economics.
The company said survey respondents blamed a “generally uncertain operating environment” and capital controls for the collapse.
Seperately, China's official PMI came in at 50 for July, a reading that indicates neither expansion or contraction.
HSBC beats
HSBC Holdings, Europe's largest bank, reported first- half pretax profit of $13.6 billion in a statement on Monday.
The bank said a 19 percent jump in Asian earnings was the main driver of the earnings beat, giving a boost to CEO Stuart Gulliver's strategy of shifting investment to the east.
Iran ready to pump
Iran can increase production by 500 000 barrels per day within one week of the end of sanctions, and by a million barrels per day within a month, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said according to reports on state media.
Brent for September settlement dropped as much as $1.36 to $50.85 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange this morning.
Obama on climate
US President Barack Obama is set to unveil new limits on planet-warming carbon emissions and more incentives for renewable energy later today at the White House.
The rules, dubbed the Clean Power Plan have the enthusiastic backing of green-energy companies. Coal companies have vowed to kill the plan.
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