Good morning. Here's what you need to know.


  • Chinese trade surplus widened to $31.7 billion in June. Exports beat expectations rising 11.3 percent, but imports rose just 6.3 percent month-over-month. 

  • Alcoa kicked off earnings season yesterday when it announced second quarter earnings of $0.06 per share. Net revenue however fell 9.4 percent to $5.96 billion as aluminum prices plunged.

  • Intel is investing $4.1 billion in ASML a Dutch semiconductor company. Through this investment, Intel hopes to speed up the process of an advanced chipmaking technique called extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography.

  • Google is close to a deal to pay $22.5 million to settle a U.S. federal trade commission probe over claims that it violated user privacy on Apple's internet browser, Safari.