The View From The Tower

Overnight Snapshot

 
The Day Ahead

0830hrs UK         SW Riksbank monetary policy decision (est -0.5% vs previous -0.5%)
0930hrs UK         UK Bank of England’s Alex Brazier speaks in London
1000hrs UK         SW Riksbank holds a press conference
1025hrs UK         EU European Commissioner for budget Guenther Oettinger speaks in Helsinki
1100hrs UK         UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey
1245hrs UK         EU ECB main Refinancing Rate (est 0.00% vs previous 0.00%)
1300hrs UK         EU EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom speaks in Helsinki
1330hrs UK         EU ECB President Mario Draghi Press Briefing
1330hrs UK         US Initial Jobless Claims (est 233K vs previous 232K)
1330hrs UK         US Durable Goods Orders (est 1.69% vs previous 3.0%)
1620hrs UK         EU ECB’s Daniele Nouy speaks in Sofia
 
US earnings releases today include Newmont Mining, MGM Resorts, American Airlines, PepsiCo, Bristol Myers Squibb, Time Warner, Hilton, SouthWest Airlines, Hershey, UPS, Conoco, CME Group, General Motors, Union Pacific, Intel, Expedia, Amazon, Mattel, Microsoft….. the list goes on!!
 
FTSE100 Ex Dividend 7.895 Index Points today – Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Glencore, Legal & General, Relx & Rolls Royce
 
The Day So Far….

STOCKS: Wall Street limped in to positive territory yesterday on optimism over a spate of upbeat earnings that was nearly offset by jitters over rising bond yields and corporate costs. The trio of the Dow, the S&P500 and the Nasdaq100 ended positively after a choppy session with the Dow ending a 5 day losing streak, closing up 59.7 at 24083.83 and the S&P ending 4.84 to the good at 2639.4, and the NDX posting a gain of 4.892 points at 6513.94  The 10-year US Treasury yield , a benchmark for global borrowing costs, finished above 3% as the supply of US government debt surged to cover the revenue shortfall from the massive tax overhaul.
Asia's major indices were mostly lower on Thursday as tech names moved higher, while financials took a hit. - The Nikkei 225 bucked the broader trend, adding 0.5%, with the IT sector outperforming, while energy names added the most weight to the index. The Hang Seng lost ground as IT names weighed, while energy was the only sector to trade higher.  China's Shanghai Composite lost 1.4%.  Australia's ASX lost 0.2% with the Financial sector adding the most weight, while the health care sector lodged the largest gains.  US index futures moved higher following a strong run of earnings posted after the bell. The e-mini S&P added as much as 10 points, while the mini Dow added over 70 points, although both have retreated in to negative territory as we approach the European open
 
US TSYS: Tsys operate around Wednesday's lows after the benchmark US 10-Year yield consolidated above 3.00% after a brief tick higher in the early part of
Thursday's Asia-Pacific session. - The curve is a little steeper than it was at settlement - The Eurodollar strip has traded in lacklustre fashion, with the white & red contracts unchanged to 0.5 ticks higher, back from the early session highs.
 
OIL: Crude oil moved higher overnight as French President Emmanuel Macron revealed his belief that the US will withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. WTI & Brent added $0.40 to trade at $68.40 & $74.40 respectively. - This came after the weekly DoE crude inventory data revealed a surprise headline draw (much like the one seen in the API inventory estimate on Tuesday), while distillate & gasoline stocks fell, Cushing stocks ticked higher & US production edged higher.
 
GOLD: Gold stuck to a tight range, with the yellow metal last trading virtually unchanged at $1324/oz.
 
FOREX: The USD consolidated the bulk of Wednesday's gains, after Tsy yields consolidated, while Moody's affirmed the US' AAA rating. - AUDUSD has added 15 or so pips to deal at ~0.7580, with AUDNZD adding a similar amount of pips to trade around 1.0715. AUD demand reportedly stemmed from domestic hedging interests. - NZDUSD trades flat at 0.7070, after the cross recorded a 7th consecutive daily
loss on Wednesday, printing below 0.7100 for the first time since January. It would seem that the recent sell off has resulted in the emergence of some corporate demand, while some short-term indicators have moved into oversold territory. - USDJPY is 10 pips lower at 109.35, although the JPY has underperformed against the remaining majors. Fitch affirmed Japan's A rating, while Japanese PM Abe stated that he wasn't considering a snap election.  GBPUSD & EURUSD lodged modest gains. USDCAD shrugged off comments from BoC Gov Poloz, which offered little fresh insight.

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