Morning Update – 17/07/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. US stocks closed higher even after some poor US data Friday but Asia was mixed with Nikkei closed for a holiday in Japan. China data was strong but stocks a tad soft. China was the star of the show in EM after Q2 GDP grew by 6.9%, beating the market consensus of 6.8% and showing that China’s economy is on track for the first annual GDP acceleration since 2010. This weekend also saw the once-every-five-year Chinese National Financial work conference take place with a resulting promise of greater financial regulation and strengthening of weak links in financial supervision. Strangly, with this data, Antipodean currencies were the biggest underperformers overnight, however whilst AUD fell 0.3% it still continues to hold its strongest levels against the USD since May 2015. The dollar index hit its lowest level since before the US presidential election after weak inflation and retail data from the US, after falling 0.6% on Friday; overnight we saw the index trade down to 95.061. US inflation data also continued to impact the 10yr US Treasury yields as they continued to fall by 1.3bps. In commodities Brent held above $49 a barrel the 6 consecutive day of gains. GBP a tad soft after it seems Tory in-fighting continues. Hammond has accused hardline Brexiters of trying to undermine him and to resist a business-friendly exit from the EU. This morning we have little data until the important EU CPI print.. Good luck..