Gold Prices Ease In Lackluster Trade

Gold prices eased on Friday and the euro neared parity with the dollar, as traders bet on the prospect of a eurozone recession caused by soaring inflation.

Spot gold dipped 0.2 percent to $1,736.64 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.3 percent at $1,735.

The EUR/USD has extended its slide to its lowest level in nearly two decades below 1.0100 as recession risks continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Despite the worsening inflation outlook in the euro area, ECB policymakers sound relatively cautious regarding the rate outlook.

European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said today that there were no signs at present of a “dangerous spiral” between wages and price increases, and that policy normalization can be gradual after a 25-bps hike in July.

Elsewhere, the Japanese yen rose on safe-haven demand as former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being shot twice at a campaign event in the Nara region ahead of upper house elections on Sunday.

Investors await the release of U.S. non-farm payroll data for June later in the day and the June inflation data to be released next week for clues to the possible rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Federal Reserve governors Christopher Waller and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Thursday backed another big interest-rate rise in July but said they think recession fears are overblown.

Pre-market Movers: INO, CLSK, BORR, KSS, HNRG…

The following are some of the stocks making big moves in Friday’s pre-market trading (as of 06.50 A.M. ET).

In the Green

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INO) is up over 16% at $2.01
CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK) is up over 14% at $4.49
Lightning eMotors, Inc. (ZEV) is up over 8% at $3.00
Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (SWM) is up over 7% at $27.12
Nexa Resources S.A. (NEXA) is up over 6% at $6.41
Snap-on Incorporated (SNA) is up over 5% at $208.44
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM) is up over 5% at $48.16
Belite Bio, Inc (BLTE) is up over 5% at $32.89
Carvana Co. (CVNA) is up over 5% at $23.84
Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (ASPN) is up over 5% at $10.38

In the Red

Borr Drilling Limited (BORR) is down over 12% at $4.03
Kohl’s Corporation (KSS) is down over 11% at $31.55
Hallador Energy Company (HNRG) is down over 10% at $4.86
Genworth Financial, Inc. (GNW) is down over 7% at $3.26
Exicure, Inc. (XCUR) is down over 6% at $2.02
Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) is down over 5% at $52.50

Twitter Lays Off Nearly 30% Employees Of Recruiting Team

Twitter Inc. has laid off 30% of its recruiting team, that comes to around 100 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. The job cut comes as the social media giant is preparing cost cuts amid the $44 billion takeover deal by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The company in May had announced its plans to pause hiring as part of cutting costs.

CEO Parag Agrawal had said earlier that the company was managing costs in a very challenging macro environment. In May, the company had fired Consumer division head Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falckd.

It was in late April that Twitter agreed to accept Musk’s offer for $54.20 per share in cash and to become a privately held company.

However, in May, Musk put the Twitter acquisition on hold, demanding further information about spam and fake accounts on the microblogging site. Musk then said he suspected that they make up at least 20 percent of users, while Twitter continued to admit that spam/fake accounts represent only about 5 percent of users.

However, later, Twitter complied with Musk to provide him access to the data he asked for.

This week, Twitter officials reiterated that spam accounts make up less than 5% of the company’s daily monetizable users.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s board of directors in mid June had unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in approval of the merger.

The deal is currently expected to close in 2022.

Oil Resumes Decline On Recession Fears

Oil prices resumed declines on Friday after rebounding from two days of weakness the previous day.

Benchmark Brent crude futures dipped half a percent to $104.07 per barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 0.8 percent at $101.88.

Prices headed for weekly declines on concerns about a possible recession and a drop in energy demand.

Having just emerged from a painful two-month lockdown, Shanghai is now once again on a high alert.

Elevated levels of new infections in several Chinese cities including Shanghai rekindled worries about growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Fed’s more aggressive approach to combat inflation at the expense of growth also raised worries about the outlook for energy demand.

The focus remains on the latest U.S. jobs data due later in the day, which is expected to show that employers likely hired the fewest workers in 14 months in June.

After official U.S. data revealed a hefty weekly rise in domestic crude inventories, investors now await the U.S. oil & gas rigs count for the week ended July 8th for further direction.

Target Hospitality Raises FY22 Outlook

Target Hospitality Corporation (TH), a provider of workforce lodging and modular housing, said on Friday that it has raised its guidance for the fiscal 2022 following its Expanded Humanitarian Contract with a non-profit organization earlier this week.

For the full year, the company now expects its total revenues to be in the range of $500 million – $510 million, versus its previous forecast of $325 million – $335 million.

Three analysts, on average, polled by Thomson-Reuters are estimating the firm to report its total sales for the year at $333.13 million. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude one-time items.

For the fiscal 2022, the Group also forecasts its adjusted EBITDA of $295 million to $305 million, higher than its projection of $125 million – $135 million.

For the second quarter, the company expects its total revenues to be in the range of $102 million – $107 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of $50 million to $55 million.

Analysts, on average, expect the company to post its second quarter revenues at $82.67 million.

The Expanded Humanitarian Contract with an undisclosed national nonprofit partner includes enhanced infrastructure and related solutions for around 6,400 displaced persons, nonprofit staff, and related personnel, representing a 60 percent population increase from the initial contract.