European Union

Once again weakness in the US carried through to Asia with stocks unable to hold any National-Team-inspired gains, but it was the contagion to commodities that was most notable (as a hike in exchange fees snuffed out a lot of speculative fervor)

• European equities have followed suit from their Asia-Pac counterparts to trade higher across the board
• Markets await Brexit headlines amid Barnier deadline
• Looking ahead, highlights include US weekly jobs and potential comments from ECB’s Draghi.

ASIA

Cable traders are suffering through a news overload this morning, with the optimism and euphoria which sent the pound to two month highs as recently as 2 days ago fading fast on speculation whether UK PM Theresa May will be able to engineer a Brexit breakthrough in time. And following overnight speculation that her cabinet may revolt, and what one desk dubbed "headline havoc" this morning in which DUP sources saying that there will be no deal this week, it’s looking increasingly in jeopardy. 

UK Pensions Risk - Time to Rebalance and Allocate to Cash and Gold

Bailins Coming In EU - 114 Italian Banks Have NP Loans Exceeding Tangible Assets

As several sellside desks have summarized, today will be a binary one for GBP: either deal or no deal. And following an early swoon in cable after speculation rose that a deal would be elusive, the pound soared above 1.35 following a report that EU chief brexit negotiator Barnier told MEPs that a breakthrough is likely today.