Thanks to a 13% surge in crude imports (as refiners prepare for maintenance season), China's trade surplus hit its highest since Jan (though -4% YoY). Imports (+14.8% YoY) and Exports (+8.7% YoY) both beat expectations.
China’s overseas shipments accelerated in May from a year earlier, as Bloomberg suggests global demand shows signs of picking up.
Authored by Ruthie Blum via The Gatestone Institute,
In a stunning blow for US diplomacy in the Pacific rim region, Yonhap reported that South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in said he has suspended the deployment of American THAAD anti-missile defense system, a major concession to China and a significant break with the United States on policy toward North Korea.
European and Asian stocks, as well as S&P futures were little changed ahead of "Super Thursday's" events which include the U.K. general election, Comey's testimony and the ECB policy decision. That however may change following a Bloomberg news report that the ECB is set to cut inflation forecasts through 2019 due to weaker energy prices, suggesting the "hawkish" ECB announcement some had expected tomorrow has been postponed.
As its foreign reserves dwindle to less than $10 billion, the government of Venezuela – desperate for any kind of financial lifeline - has partnered with a Chinese brokerage to try and resell $5 billion in bonds that it initially issued at a deep discount, according to the Wall Street Journal. The brokerage, Haitong Securities USA, a unit of China’s Haitong Securities, is quietly marketing the bonds to yield-starved hedge fund managers.