Morning Update – 15/08/16 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St had a busy session Friday after weak Retail Sales data but ended the session down just around unchanged as stocks bounced into the close. Asia has been quiet with the Nikkei down marginally and FX markets in tight ranges. China’s blue-chip Index rose 1.3 percent to a seven-month high and Shanghai added 0.9 percent amid talk more stimulus would be forthcoming from Beijing. Early on Monday, the dollar was flat at 101.30 JPY and not far from important support around 100.80. The euro was steady at $1.1157 having held in a $1.1050 to $1.1230 range for last couple of weeks. One outlier has been sterling, which has slipped steadily since the BoE’s easing to stand at $1.2927 and ever closer to the post-Brexit trough at $1.2797. In commodity markets, oil prices edged higher after boasting gains of 6 percent last week as Saudi Arabia’s oil minister held out the chance of action to help stabilize the market. Japan’s April-June GDP flat on-quarter, missing forecasts for 0.2 pct growth – Japan’s economy failed to grow on a quarterly basis during the April-June period, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth coming in at zero, missing forecasts. On an annualized basis, GDP expanded 0.2 percent, slowing dramatically from the 1.9 percent spike in the first three months of the year. No real data of note this morning.. Good luck..