Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — Stocks will open at a low level despite Apple’s support (NASDAQ:), who posted record sales for the quarter. Economic bellwether Caterpillar (NYSE:) Oil giant Chevron The NYSE: and other companies release quarterly earnings. Additional data about inflation and wage costs is released by the United States. China’s stock market closes at its 16-month lowest level before the New Year holidays. Germany held the Eurozone’s economy back in its fourth quarter. And the second-largest global battery producer had an unexpected market debut. This is what you should know about financial markets Friday, 28 January.

1. Apple records record-setting sales

Apple ignored Covid store closures and supply chain problems in the third quarter of 2021, to be able to publish its fiscal first quarter.

iPhone sales increased 9%, rather than the expected 3% increase. Revenue from Mac sales rose 25% while revenue from services rose 24%. The company diverted chip production from iPads to meet service demand.

While the company stated that revenue will increase in the current quarter year-on-year, they were less optimistic about long-term forecasting. Analysts responded positively to statements about the company’s investment in Metaverse-related projects. Apple pointed out that the company already sells 14,000 apps for augmented reality.

2. PCE, ECI, spending data

Do you feel ready to face the daily nerve-testing exercise from the data schedule?

Friday’s big numbers are the price index for December and the for the fourth quarter, both due at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), which come on the back of GDP numbers that did nothing to allay fears of an aggressive tightening of monetary policy throughout the year.

For its information on wage inflation, the Employment Cost Index is particularly relevant. This was the highest increase since the Great Financial Crisis. Analysts predict that it will only have slightly slipped to 1.2%.

The PCE prices index, meanwhile, is the Fed’s preferred indicator of inflation, rather than the CPI.

Data are available for and due to December.

3. Stocks set for weak open; Caterpillar, Chevron earnings due

U.S. stocks are set to open mostly lower, with the sharp drop in Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock on Thursday seemingly still weighing on sentiment despite support from Apple’s earnings. 

At 6:15 am ET, they had fallen 186 points or 0.6% and were 0.5% lower than the 0.5% that was expected.

In the two previous days, the closed in red while being up over 1.5% intraday. The last time that happened – and, indeed, the only time that has happened in recent history – was in October 2008, according to Steve Deppe, Chief Investment Officer at NDWM.

Apple and Tesla aside, Visa (NYSE 🙂 will be the stocks of focus Friday, as well as luxury goods firm LVMH (NYSE :), which reported strong earnings Thursday night. Following a, Robinhood (NASDAQ) stock moves in the wrong direction. Caterpillar, Chevron, Charter Communications Colgate-Palmolive, (NYSE:), and (NASDAQ.:) are the two leading companies in reporting daily.

China, however, saw benchmark stock indices fall to a 16 month low while it prepares for the Lunar New Year holiday that will last for a week.

4. Eurozone GDP is mixed, but Germany slips

The Eurozone economy was a mixed bag at the end of 2021, with the currency union’s largest economy, , shrinking by 0.7% on the quarter, much worse than the 0.3% expected (although the numbers need to be taken with a pinch of salt, given that Germany routinely revises its economic data upwards).

Positive developments were seen in and. Both posted quarterly growth that was above the expectations of their analysts due to strong domestic demand.

Separately, data from the ECB showed that credit growth was slowing and that money supply declined in December. On the price front, Germany’s import price numbers suggested that inflationary pressures may be peaking, posting their smallest monthly rise in 15 months. However, the annual comparisons look terrible with 24% increase in year over year. Dec. saw a drop of 22%, which led to January seeing a 22.6% increase.

5. LG Energy: LG Energy launches a wild new product

Stocks LG Energy Solution Ltd (KS:) had a wild ride on their market debut in South Korea, as the world’s second-biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries finally started trading.

The stock closed the day at 15% less than the IPO price but rose nearly 100% at open. LGES supplies Tesla, Volkswagen (DE:) and General Motors (NYSE:) with batteries for their electric vehicles, and is the world’s second-biggest battery maker by volume after China’s CATL.

Back in the world of conventional energy, oil prices stayed close to their seven-year highs posted earlier in the week, with no sign of a resolution to the crisis over Russia’s threats against Ukraine. At 6:30AM E, oil futures were 0.7% higher at $87.17/barrel, while they were 0.8% higher at $88.65/barrel