Europe

Today, Moscow kicked off its controversial, week-long "Zapad-2017" drill, the latest iteration of a series of training maneuvers that began under the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and which has angered and put NATO and Baltic States leaders on edge. Land, sea and air units will be taking part in war games until the 21st of September across a huge area encompassing western Russia, Belarus, the Baltic Sea and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Last month, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's trophy wife Louise Linton posted the following ill-advised response to an Instagram troll that, among other things, condescendingly blasted the suggestion that Mnuchin/Linton used government planes "for our honeymoon or personal travel."

Submitted by Bill Blain of Mint Partners

What do we know different this morning?

There is apparently nothing to worry about. Everything is coming up roses. These are not the droids you are looking for – says my market guru Steve Previs. All the old market bears, like me, are looking for stuff to grumble about – terrified by the unintended consequences of QE, caught in the headlights of apparently overbought markets, of whatever else panics them… etc.

But what do we know?

Submitted by Rajan Dhall of FX Daily

Going into the MPC announcement later on the this morning, no one is expecting any change in policy, nor should they - now or indeed any time soon.  We would expect this view to be shared by the broader spectrum of investors, but as we know, the reaction today hinges on whether we get any additions to the hawks that are Messrs McCafferty and Saunders, and this would be enough to send Cable on another rally higher, where would likely see the upper end of what we believe is the current range of 1.2500 to 1.3500. 

Global stocks backed off from all time highs, and S&P futures are unchanged ahead of the much anticipated US CPI report, which is expected to break a streak of five consecutive misses, while eyeing disappointing overnight Chinese economic data which missed across the board. European stocks and Asian markets were also modestly in the red, with the relentless global rally to new daily record highs taking a breather amid some concerns China's economy is rolling over, which weighed on commodities including base metals, which in turned dragged down mining stocks.