Two days after Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's one-year anniversary of taking the country's top job, Italy's political parties have reached an agreement on when next year's election will be held, according to Italian media reports, with the news prompting a selloff across Italian assets. According to local press, President Sergio Mattarella will dissolve parliament this month and set a March 4 election date.
Yesterday's sharp Chinese selloff is now a distant memory after the BTFDers emerged, and this morning U.S. equity futures are once again levitating as the FOMC begins its two-day policy meeting, following an uneventful BOJ announcement on Tuesday morning which left all QE parameters unchanged. Asian stocks traded mixed steady while European shares climb.
U.S. futures slid 0.2% as investors await a barrage of announcements including Wednesday's Fed decision, Friday's jobs report and, most importantly Trump's imminent announcement of who the next Fed chairman will be, although after the latest trial balloons, Jay Powell is now largely priced in. Asian equities edged modestly higher despite a tumble in Chinese stocks and bonds with Japan's Nikkei closing 3 points in the green, while European shares hold steady after concerns eased about the Catalan crisis with no notable developments over the weekend, pushing Spanish stocks and bonds higher.
US equity futures are higher, boosted by a bevy of better than expected earnings out of tech giants Amazon, Intel and Microsoft as Asian stocks and European shares climb amid the dovish sentiment unleashed from Thursday’s ECB update.
S&P futures are fractionally in the red while traders await President Trump’s pick for Fed chair and more clues on the fate of tax reform; Asian stocks slide, European shares are little changed ahead of tomorrow's ECB tapering announcement as US 10Y yields finally break out of their multi-month range below 2.40%...