Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.29%, Shanghai Composite up 2.33%, Hang Seng up 0.64%, ASX up 0.37%
- Commodities : Gold at $1222.50 (-0.12%), Silver at $15.38 (-0.18%), Brent Oil at $72.88 (+0.41%), WTI Oil at $68.33 (+0.13%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.849, UK 10-year yield at 1.186, Germany 10-year yield at 0.331
News & Data:
- (USD) Unemployment Claims 207K vs 220K expected
- (USD) Philly Fed Manufacturing Index 25.7 vs 21.6 expected
- (GBP) Retail Sales m/m -0.50% vs 0.10% expected
- (AUD) Unemployment Rate 5.40% vs 5.40% expected
- (AUD) Employment Change 50.9K vs 16.7K expected
- Dollar on defensive against yen, euro after Trump comments
- Net migration falls in June, remains historically high, Stats NZ says
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Friday following the negative lead from Wall Street amid U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the Federal Reserve and as China's central bank lowered its midpoint for the yuan to its lowest level in a year. Worries about the European Union imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods also weighed on investor sentiment.
The Japanese market is declining in choppy trade following the weak cues from Wall Street and on a stronger yen. The Australian market is rising despite the weak cues from Wall Street and lower base metal prices. Gains by banks and oil stocks helped offset weakness in mining stocks. South Korean stocks saw more measured moves to the downside, with the Kospi slipping 0.21 percent. Samsung Electronics, an index heavyweight, edged up by 0.43 percent, but other large cap tech names were mixed
The yuan fell to as low as 6.8128 to the dollar in the onshore market, before major state-owned Chinese banks were seen selling dollars in an apparent bid by authorities to prevent a rapid fall in the currency. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was 0.1 percent lower at 95.071 after being knocked down from 95.652, its highest level since July 2017. The dollar had reached that high after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed confidence in the U.S. economy and affirmed expectations that the central bank was on track to keep hiking interest rates gradually.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Public Sector Net Borrowing
- Tentative – (All) OPEC-JMMC Meetings
- Day 1 GMT – (All) G20 Meetings
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) CPI m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Core Retail Sales m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Common CPI y/y
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Median CPI y/y
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Retail Sales m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Trimmed CPI y/y
