Morning Update – 19/07/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. A mixed session for US stocks yesterday as the S&P closed unchanged, the Dow down 0.25% but the NASDAQ up 0.47%. The dollar remained weak through the session but saw a rebound into the close. In Asia the Nikkei closed marginally higher in a very quiet session in all markets; FX pairs barely moving. NZD was the biggest performer overnight up 0.2%, AUD continued to make gains trading up to 0.7923, a new 26 month high still benefiting from the RBA meeting minutes and JPY was flat against the USD but still trading at a three week high. 10yr US treasury yield were down 4.4 bps. Brent was 0.2% lower after Saudi Arabia suggested it would cut exports. Asian equities rose after Australian banks performed well after details on new capital ratio rules. Central banks were in focus overnight after Euro-area officials have said the ECB is studying options for the future of QE ahead of Septembers meeting. Turning to the BoE Mark Carney has come out to say that the weak U.K. Inflation data doesn’t change the BoE’s outlook and that price gains will stay above target.This say GBP higher and profit taking in EURGBP. We expect a relative quiet trading day ahead of the BoJ and ECB tomorrow. At tomorrow’s BoJ we expect them to cut inflation forecasts and increase GDP forecasts. This morning we get very little of note on the data front.. Good luck.