Hello friends and Coins2Day readers.
Wall Street stock futures are set to open lower, after weak GDP data from Europe set the stage for what’s expectedly to be more gloomy U.S. Figures from the Commerce Department later. U.S, crude oil future are up on a report by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch saying the U.S. Could lift its export ban within two years.
Today’s must-read story is by Coins2Day‘s Leena Rao and it looks at what updates to Google Play could mean in the battle between Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) for a bigger slice of the mobile device market.
Here’s what else you need to know today.
1. FIFA election
The U.S. Justice Department and Swiss police just arrested nine FIFA officials of corruption, but that won’t stop soccer’s international governing body from holding its presidential election today. Fortunately, for incumbent Sepp Blatter, he was not one of the officials arrested earlier this week. But, the massive scandal (to go along with years of corruption accusations) likely won’t win Blatter many reelection votes, though he does have Vladimir Putin’s support.
2. U.S. And Brazil release GDP data
The U.S. Commerce Department will release preliminary gross domestic product data for the first quarter today. After previously estimating that the U.S. Economy grew by 0.2%, the government is now expected to say that GDP declined by 0.8% in the quarter. Brazil will release its own economic data, which is expected to show that the South American country’s economy also contracted in the first quarter.
3. Greek bank agonies.
Greeks are pulling money out of their banks as they try to protect themselves against the risk of an exit from the Eurozone (a risk that IMF head Christine Lagarde acknowledged for the first time Thursday). The figures come after a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs passed without a single encouraging word for Athens.
4. Silk Road sentencing
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of now-defunct online black market Silk Road, will be sentenced today in New York following his conviction for operating the illegal website. Ulbricht, who faces life in prison, recently asked the federal judge weighing his fate for a lighter sentence.
5. Canadian bank earnings
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) reports its second-quarter earnings this morning. Results for Canada’s third-largest lender follow a strong showing from fellow large Canadian banks, including Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), who topped expectations on Thursday despite the country’s sluggish economy.
(Reuters contributed to this post.)