Evening Briefing for August 2nd

* MARKET THEMES FROM FRIDAY: Friday saw range bound trade consolidating the strength that we saw on Thursday. Low readings for both the Demand and Supply indicators suggest a range environment going into Monday's trade, with important support at Friday's premarket lows and resistance in the 990-992.50 area in ES. We saw a weaker dollar vs. euro on Friday and strength in gold and oil. Those intermarket themes have been supportive of higher stock prices in recent sessions.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 1:00 AM CT - Germany, retail sales; 8:30 PM CT - Australia, retail sales.

* EARNINGS: BCS, CTX, CLX, HBC, HUM, L, MRO, PHM, TSN.

* WORTH READING:

-- Wages fall in Japan;

-- Asia opens firm;

-- Excellent review of the market week;

-- China and the global recovery;

-- Why China's stimulus is working better that that of the U.S.;

-- Higher taxes for the middle class?
.