United Kingdom

In a world where fundamentals don't matter, everyone's attention will be on Janet Yellen who speaks at 1:15pm today in Harvard, hoping to glean some more hints about the Fed's intentionas and next steps, including a possible rate hike in June or July. And with a long holiday in both the US and UK (US bond market closes at 2pm today), it is no surprise overnight trading volumes have been dreadful, helping keep global equities poised for the highest close in three weeks; this won't change unless Yellen says something that would disrupt the calm that’s settled over financial markets.

Cable has strengthened notably in the last week or so as Cameron and Osborne unleashed phase 2 of "project fear" and 'some' Brexit polls suggested market fears of a 'leave' decision were overblown. However, the broad polls still show the decision is too close to call, which is why the news from Ladbrokes - Britain's largest bookmaker - that they have seen a sudden surge in Brexit bets in the last few days. Interestingly, sterling has started to leak lower today...

British prime minister David Cameron is trying to fast-track an EU-Canada trade deal without parliamentary consent.  A set of leaked notes that were allegedly made during the EU Foreign Affairs/Trade-Council in Brussels on 13 May, appears to show that the UK is aggressively pushing for a controversial trade between the EU and Canada to be implemented through parliament before MP’s have a chance to vote on the issue.

• Wall Street Crime: 7 Years, 156 Cases and Few Convictions (WSJ)
• Japan's Abe points to 2008 crisis as G7 leaders debate global risk (Reuters)
• Brent Crude Rises Above $50 a Barrel (WSJ)
• New York financial regulator gearing up to probe online lenders (Reuters)
• At Swinging Wall Street Parties, the Feds Are Now on the Prowl (BBG)
• Do U.S. Killings of Militant Leaders Work? (WSJ)
• Fed's Bullard: global central bank policy divergence has been priced in (Reuters)
• Insurers Seek Big Premium Boosts (WSJ)

The single biggest event overnight was the PBOC's devaluation of the Yuan to the lowest since March 2011, setting the fixing at 6.5693, the highest in over 5 years and in direct response to a stronger dollar, which however if one looks at the DXY remains well below the recent highs in the 100 range, suggesting for China this is only just beginning.