general election

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

Authored by Geert Wilders via The Gatestone Institute,

The Euro has jumped to a six week high following the latest record high print in the German IFO Business Climate index, which rose from 116.7 to 117.5 (exp.

Angela’s Merkel’s ability to restore her power in Germany should be decided in the next few days, as talks take place with Martin Schultz’s SPD.

In the meantime, Merkel’s ratings have unexpectedly “tanked” in the latest German polls. More than half of Germans believe she should not run for office in a poll conducted for t-online.com, as the Daily Express reports.

In the Sicilian elections earlier this month, Silvio Berlusconi’s return to a central role in Italy’s political circus took a major step forward with the victory of Nello Musumeci, the candidate backed by the center-right parties, including Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (see “Berlusconi: The Greatest Comeback Since Lazarus?”). As we said at the time.