Morning Update – 21/04/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Confidence returned to Wall St, closing up 0.76% reversing all the previous sessions looses and some. Trump was talking of imposing Steel tariffs but this seemed to help rather than hinder US stocks. This sparked solid buying in Asia as well with the Nikkei closing up 1.1% as risk sentiment grew. Iron Ore had a solid rally and held gains.The dollar also rallied as US yields rose and the 10yr is now 2.24% and USDJPY made a high of 109.44 overnight. EUR was trapped in a very tight range capped by fears over what impact the Paris shooting may have on the election this weekend..gunman opened fire on Champs Elysee, killed police officer, seriously injured two others; gunman subsequently shot dead by French police; Islamic State claimed responsibility for attack. US Treasury’s Mnuchin: US focus on international issues is around fair, balanced trade; working day & night on tax reform, close to bringing forward major tax reform, hopes will be passed before end 2017; majority of revenue lost from lower tax rates made up with extra growth, dynamic tax scoring; if tax reform doesn’t attract democratic support they will go through budget reconciliation process; infrastructure is a big priority. BoJ’s Kuroda: will continue to pursue powerful easing until hit 2% tgt; no clear upward shift in px momentum seen so far; prospects for economy have brightened from several months ago; no comment on Trump’s recent comments on USD being too strong; global community understands Japan is not targeting FX in guiding mon pol; cautions against unwinding free trade. Japan April flash PMI: 52.8 vs 52.4 previous. This morning we get Services and manufacturing PMI in France, Germany and the EU as a whole. We also get UK retail sales data.. Good luck