Morning Briefing: Markets mixed, FOMC minutes awaited

Markets mixed, FOMC minutes awaited

World markets are mixed so far Wednesday with no lead from Wall Street after the July 4th holiday and a new slip for oil prices as OPEC output gains, although political concerns have eased the decline.

Asian markets recovered from the North Korean missile launch which tainted the previous session. Chinese PMI data was down in June while Japan’s PMI was higher.

European markets are also digesting PMI data which is up in the Eurozone bloc and individually for Germany and France. UK PMI was flat. Eurozone retail sales also gained. Most equity indexes are trending higher.

In the Middle East, there will be decision on whether sanctions on Qatar should continue. Moody’s has cut the country’s outlook.
Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open flat. FOMC minutes are due later. 
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	21,479.27 (+0.61 per cent)	+1.29 per cent	+19.67 per cent
TSX Composite	15,130.61 (-0.34 per cent)	-1.81 per cent	+6.41 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,351.29 (-0.08 per cent)	-2.32 per cent	+12.31 per cent
German DAX	12,432.97 (-0.03 per cent)	-3.04 per cent	+30.43 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,659.68 (+1.10 per cent)	+5.50 per cent	+14.10 per cent
Japan Nikkei	20,081.63 (+0.25 per cent)	-0.44 per cent	+28.16 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
48.97 (-1.29 per cent)	46.45 (-1.32 per cent)	1221.40 (+0.18 per cent)	U$0.7722
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7596

Italy has bailed out another of its banks

For the third time in the past week, the Italian government has been forced to bail out another of the country’s banks.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) will receive 5.4 billion euros and will be required to restructure which will include the sale of non-performing loans.

The bank’s lifeline means that Italian taxpayers have injected more than U$25 billion into the banking sector in the past week.