Morning Update – 07/08/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St closed rather flat after the stronger Non-farm payrolls data Friday with the S&P up just 0.19% and the NASDAQ up 0.18%. The dollar rally has also been capped as US yields remained under some pressure. The 10yr sits a little lower in Asia at 2.265%. NZD was the biggest loser in FX overnight falling slightly to 0.7395 after a Q3 inflation expectation survey showed a decline in expectations. USD edged lower after hovering at a 1-week high off the back of Fridays strong employment data. AUD was the biggest mover, making gains of 0.2% trading up to 0.7949. The EUR stronger theme continued as EUR was up 0.2% overnight edging closer to the 1.18 mark; JPY remained flat. In other asset classes, Asian equities were broadly higher as they responded to a strong NFP data and Australian material stocks benefited from a 7.8% increase in Chinese iron ore prices. Nikkei closed up 0.6%. Oil prices retraced some of their gains from Friday with Brent trading 0.3% lower at $52.25 a barrel but generally a quiet session overnight. In the news the UN security council have unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea, China and Russia are among those that approved with China confident this will bring North Korea to the bargaining table. The support from China may lead to a dial back on trade action from the US though it is unlikely. Looking at Brexit the UK will offer £36bn to settle the Brexit bill and hope to move closer to a trade deal. This week we have little data as is the norm after NFP data but this morning we do have Swiss CPI and some House Price data from the UK. Good luck..