0930hrs UK UK Mortgage Approvals (est 65.8K vs previous 67.5K)
0930hrs UK UK Current Account Balance (est -£24.07bln vs previous -£22.8bln)
0930hrs UK UK GDP (est 0.4%mom/1.4%yoy vs previous 0.4%/1.4%)
1330hrs UK US Weekly Jobless Claims (est 228.34K vs previous 229K)
1330hrs UK US Personal Income (est 0.42% vs previous 0.4%)
1330hrs UK US Personal Spending (est 0.21% vs previous 0.2%)
1445hrs UK US Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (est 63.1 vs previous 61.9)
1500hrs UK US University of Michigan Sentiment Index (est 101.75 vs previous 102.0)
1800hrs UK US Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speaks in New York

The Day So Far….

STOCKS: After a mixed session, Wall Street stocks closed lower as gains in healthcare and consumer staples sectors were offset by a further drop in tech stocks, with Amazon taking a beating, down over 4.5%. All three major indexes ended lower, the Nasdaq100 losing 69.031 at 6460.81, the S&P500 dropped 7.62 to 2605, and the Dow almost unchanged at -9.29 to 23848.42 as investors moved to defensive stocks after recent increased volatility. Markets seem to be in a news vacuum with investors looking for the next market moving story as we await the next round of US earnings.
Asian indices operated in mixed fashion on Thursday. - The Nikkei 225 bucked the trend and added 0.6%, with a softer JPY helping to stir demand for stocks. The softer JPY, when compared to Wednesday's session, boosted exporters, while utilities names lost out. - The Hang Seng traded lower with earnings season providing a fair degree of chop to trade, while the mainland Shanghai Composite Index was 1.1% better off following reports of VAT reform, which outweighed the lack of PBoC injections evident this week. - Australia's ASX underperformed, losing 0.5% as IT & materials led the way lower, while the big banks outperformed. - US index futures were marginally higher.

US TSY/RECAP: The space finished lower in lieu of a very soft 7-Year note auction after trading in line with broader risk sentiment on Wednesday. A larger than expected upward revision to US Q4 GDP temporarily weighed on Tsys in early
NY hours, but a sharp sell-off in Nasdaq stock futures resulted in a recovery in rates. The space had moved off of highs heading into the 7-Year Note auction, which registered a near 2bp tail. This resulted in Tsys moving lower, with the short to medium sectors underperforming longer dated paper, and thus a flatter curve. Geopolitical stories also weighed on Tsys with Asahi reporting that North Korea is seeking a summit with Japan.

OIL: Crude is set to lodge monthly gains in March. WTI last trades $0.10 lower at $64.60, while Brent has added $0.20, to last trade at $69.70. - On Wednesday, Iraq suggested that some producers were discussing an extension of the
OPEC/Non-OPEC agreement, although this was outweighed by a larger than expected headline build in the weekly DoE inventory data.

GOLD: The yellow metal held lower after Wednesdays losses, last at 1,327/oz in spot trade..

FOREX: The USD operated in mixed fashion overnight, with the JPY outperforming & the Antipodeans edging lower. - There was little in terms of fresh fundamental news flow, with Korea seemingly willing to meet with both the US & Japan at
separate events. - The session had no tier 1 risk events. Focus therefore fell on trade related headlines with China noting that it is still still considering US soybean import curbs following reports suggesting that the US & China were working to avoid such a move. While Japan's Aso noted that the country will do everything it can to avoid bilateral agreements with the US. - USDJPY lost around 30 pips to last trade at 106.60. - GBP has ignored suggestions that the EU will cancel an upcoming Brexit meeting owing to a lack of topics to discuss. It has also paid little attention to conflicting views from the opposition Labour party re: Brexit. - While the Antipodeans underperformed on no notable news flow.

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Отдел аналитики

03.04.2018