Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.15%, Shanghai Composite down 0.55%, Hang Seng down 0.77%, ASX down 0.04%
- Commodities : Gold at $1229.50 (-0.19%), Silver at $15.59 (-0.03%), Brent Oil at $74.30 (+0.50%), WTI Oil at $69.28 (-0.03%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.967, UK 10-year yield at 1.272, Germany 10-year yield at 0.395
News & Data:
- (USD) Crude Oil Inventories -6.1M vs -2.6M expected
- (EUR) M3 Money Supply y/y 4.40% vs 4.00% expected
- (EUR) German Ifo Business Climate 101.7 vs 101.6 expected
- NZ FinMin Grant Robertson: RBNZ's new policy committee could start in 2Q 2019, adds that he sees CPI inflation rising to 2% over time
- China Said to Quickly Withdraw Approval for New Facebook Venture
- World trade momentum slows further in May
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets started with modest gains earlier in the day as worries about trade wars eased after U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work together to lower industrial tariffs on both sides, but has since lost most of it's gains. However, Chinese markets slumped. Crude oil prices edged up in Asian trades after extending gains overnight. Ongoing concerns about the outlook for global growth continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
Greater China markets deepened their losses by the morning, with the Shanghai Composite declining 0.63 percent, and the smaller Shenzhen Composite losing 0.68 percent. Stocks in most sectors fell, including financials, autos, oil and property. The Hang Seng Index lost as much as 0.74 percent.
The Japanese market is modestly lower in choppy trade. The Australian market is declining despite the overnight gains on Wall Street. Losses by the major miners and banking stocks offset gains in the energy sector.
U.S. Treasury yields remained higher after the Juncker-Trump meeting. The yield on 10-year notes was at 2.9690 percent, compared with its U.S. close of 2.936 percent on Wednesday. Earlier in the week, Treasury prices had slumped along with Japanese government bonds on speculation the Bank of Japan may soon start to taper its massive stimulus. Gold moved slightly higher as the dollar eased. Spot gold was traded at $1,232.09 per ounce.
Upcoming Events:
- 08:00 AM GMT – (EUR) Spanish Unemployment Rate
- Tentative – (All) OPEC-JMMC Meetings
- 12:45 PM GMT – (EUR) Main Refinancing Rate
- 01:30 PM GMT – (EUR) ECB Press Conference
- 01:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core Durable Goods Orders m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (USD) Durable Goods Orders m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Claims
