Morning Update – 15/08/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St had a better day as fears over conflict with N. Korea subsided and the S&P rose by 1%, NASDAQ by 1.3% and the Dow by 0.62% so a solid day. This spilled over into the Asian markets that saw the Nikkei up 1.3%. The risk on sentiment is on view as Europe walks in but in FX the JPY was the only real mover of note. A mostly muted overnight session with the risk on environment as safe haven assets retreated from their gains last week with USDJPY traded at its firmest level in 5 days, trading 0.7% higher whilst gold and government bonds were weaker. AUD was the only currency to make small notable gains of 0.3% against the USD after RBA meeting minutes reiterated they expect inflation to rise as economic growth picks up. Brent crude found its floor dropping 2.6% yesterday after South Koreas customs services reported crude oil imports from Iran rose by more than 0.25% in July. In the news Kim Jong Un released a statement stating he would hold off on an attack on Guam and “wait to see” how the US behaves before taking action. Overnight New York Fed head Dudley signaled that another rate hike before the year is out is likely and suggested that the Fed will announce taper plans next month. Trump will sign an executive order on today “establishing discipline and accountability in the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects,” the White House said in a statement on Monday. The U.K. government said it wants to maintain tariff-free, bureaucracy-light trade with the European Union for a period after Brexit and perhaps permanently, a proposal likely to raise eyebrows on the continent but which was cheered by British businesses. GBP hasn’t reacted much as the reality of that happening seems slim. China will take action to defend its interests if the United States damages trade ties, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump authorised an inquiry into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property. A lot of data today and this morning we see UK Retail sales data dominating. We also get UK PPI and CPI data so a lot to digest. Later in the US we get US Retail sales; equally important. Good luck.