The overnight fireworks in Japan, which saw the Nikkei plunge by 860 intraday points and sent vol and volumes soaring (before recovering most losses), spooked traders in Asia and around the globe, and U.S. equity futures are red this morning, along with European shares and oil.
European diplomats began hashing out what they want from the next stage of Brexit talks this week, seeking a united stance they can present to the U.K. The envoys will start to discuss the ideal length of the transition phase, its scope, and whether the bloc would impose the EU's "four freedoms," including free movement of people. For now, cable has been relatively stable, but as Bloomberg's Mark Cudmore warns, the pound's resilience to negative news may not last much longer.
Via Bloomberg,
U.S. equity futures are little changed as European and Asian shares retreated, led by sliding bank stocks and a drop in the dollar as doubts over republican tax cuts and ongoing bond curve flattening hurt sentiment and prompted fresh questions over the viability of the US expansion.
During his trip to London this week, US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, wasn’t only defending revelations in the Paradise Papers that he’d invested in a shipping company with ties to the Putin family. He also attended a “closed-door meeting” with executives from JPMorgan, Goldman, HSBC and other banks. The meeting took place over lunch in the exclusive St James’s District (hedge fund land these days) at Wiltons restaurant.
Following an early shaky start, which saw the Hang Seng tumble as much as 1.6% driven by weakness in financials and real estate names following the latest warning by PBOC governor Zhou about "sudden, complex, hidden, contagious, hazardous" risks In markets and a decline in local real estate prices, and pressure global risk, US equity futures have recouped all losses and are back to unchanged on monday morning, as President Trump continues on his first official trip to Asia.