With all eyes on crude, following last night's mini flash crash which sent WTI lower by 3% from just above $45 to under $43 in under 10 minutes, equity markets, generally quiet overnight, have taken on a secondary importance ahead of today's key risk event, the April payrolls report (full preview here). In global equities, Asian and European stocks are lower, while S&P futures are little changed.
As reported overnight, documents leaked online appeared to show that French Presidential Candidate Emmanuel Macron entered into an operating agreement for a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the Caribbean island of Nevis, and that the company may have had a business relationship with a bank which has been previously involved in tax evasion cases in the Cayman Islands. The anonymously released PDF files purported to show corporate records of a company named La Providence LLC apparently created by Mr. Macron in Nevis, a noted offshore tax haven. La Providence is the name of Mr.
On April 20, just days before the first round of the French election, former president Obama caused a diplomatic stir when Reuters reported that he had spoken on the phone with French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron - the market-friendly candidate preferred by Europe's establishment.
Authored by Yves Manou via The Gatestone Institute,
With much of Europe and Asia, including the U.K., France, Germany and China markets closed for Labor Day, Asian stocks and the dollar rose buoyed by news that Congress had reached a deal to keep the US government funded through the end of September. S&P futures are up 4 points or 0.2%. Oil declined as rigs targeting crude in the U.S. rose for a fifteenth week and output from Libya rebounded.