Morning Briefing: Positive markets as Yellen comments dominate

Positive markets as Yellen comments dominate
Markets have reacted positively to comments made in Fed chair Janet Yellen’s testimony to Congress, which were largely taken to be dovish. The second day of testimony is awaited.

Added into the mix Thursday is regional data and earnings but also a decline for oil prices as demand from China weakens.

Asian markets closed mostly higher with Chinese trade data lifting sentiment. Hong Kong and Sydney led the gains for the region’s stock markets.

European indexes are also trending higher. German inflation held steady last month. The German and French leaders meet in Paris later.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. Canada’s New Housing Price Index is due.

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	21,532.14 (+0.57 per cent)	+0.95 per cent	+17.20 per cent
TSX Composite	15,143.99 (-0.03 per cent)	-1.53 per cent	+4.49 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,417.77 (+0.01 per cent)	-1.10 per cent	+11.20 per cent
German DAX	12,659.79 (+0.26 per cent)	-0.82 per cent	+27.48 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,686.92 (-0.77 per cent)	+2.92 per cent	+12.31 per cent
Japan Nikkei	20,099.81 (+0.01 per cent)	+1.01 per cent	+23.83 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
47.48 (-0.54 per cent)	45.27 (-0.48 per cent)	1220.60 (+0.12 per cent)	U$0.7850
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7735

IEA highlights low compliance for OPEC output caps
OPEC members may have voted to extend their output caps into 2018 but its seems that many are ignoring the curbs.

The IEA said Thursday that compliance is at a 6-month low with 78 per cent sticking to the limits in June compared to 95 per cent in May.

While Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar are all strongly compliant, Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Iraq, the UAE and Venezuela are boosting output above the agreed caps.

The IEA said that monthly issues regarding supply and compliance are delaying the rebalancing of the oil market but added that output increases are not boosting profits with $50 a barrel required to maintain production growth.