10 things you need to know about the markets today

folarin okunola

July 7, 2015 11:51 AM

Start your morning with these ten things happening in the financial world today.

Greece's new Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who will present Greece's plans to its creditors at emergency bailout meetings today.

Greek banks will not be getting any more help from the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB announced last night that it will keep its emergency liquidity assistance, or ELA, to Greece unchanged at levels announced last Monday. Greek banks are quickly running out of cash and need the ECB to release more money to them.

Greek banks are to stay shut until at least Thursday and ATM withdrawal limits will be held at €60 (£42.5, $66) per day. Emergency capital controls and a bank holiday were announced on June 28 following news of the snap referendum, but banks had been due to reopen today.

Eurozone leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels Tuesday to discuss the fallout from Greek voters' defiant "No" to further austerity measures. Germany and France are presenting a united front, calling for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to make "precise" proposals in a bid to revive bailout talks.

Crude oil prices are crashing on fears about what the Greece situation could mean for Europe. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down over 7.8% to as low as $52.48 (£33.65) a barrel last night, its biggest intraday move since February and the lowest price for WTI crude since early April.

China's top stock market, the Shanghai Composite, continues to fall despite government efforts to prop up the tumbling index. The index is down 3.6% at time of writing, wiping out yesterday's 2.4% gain and meaning the Shanghai Composite has now collapsed 30% in just the last 3 weeks.

Other Asian markets are mixed ahead of Greek talks later today. Japan's Nikkei is 1.5% higher at time of writing, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng is 0.6% lower.

Manufacturing and industrial production growth figures for the UK in May are due at 9.30am BST (4.30am ET). The figures are expected to be largely flat on the prior month but show a 1% plus increase on the same month last year.

Tech giant Samsung says second quarter earnings will likely miss expectations. Investors had hoped for a rapid return to strong growth after supply shortages plagued its latest smartphone launch.

AstraZeneca has agreed to pay $46.5 million (£29.82 million) to resolve allegations that it underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid programme in the US. Bio-pharmaceutical company Cephalon is also paying a $7.5 million (£4.81 million) fine, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to accuse the big six energy suppliers of "overcharging" millions of energy customers a collective £1.2 billion ($1.87 billion) a year. Firms reportedly charged households 5% more than they would have in a competitive market, the BBC reports.

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