Good morning
Asian shares mixed overnight although China markets were in positive territory as fears of a clampdown on online gaming receded. However on a gloomier note China is dealing with a spread of the Delta variant, talk is that 11 million Wuhan citizens will be tested and travel is likely to be curtailed in an attempt to halt the spread.
Aussie monthly retail sales were lower overnight, the lockdown obviously having an impact. AUDUSD holds around 0.7400 but it is lower against NZD at 1.0480, the first time it has been below 1.05 this year I believe. The move was helped by stronger NZ employment numbers.
GBP is a little higher ahead of tomorrows BoE rate meeting, helped by the idea that BoE are worried about higher inflation and could sound more hawkish. While no policy changes are expected we could see a couple of dissenters which would certainly offer further support for GBP. GBPUSD 1.3940 and EURGBP 0.8520 (GBPEUR 1.1735) as I type.
Children aged 16 and over will soon be offered Covid jabs. My 17 year old has already had a jab, and they would have done my daughter at the same time had she been 16, she was off by a couple of weeks. So they have already been vaccinating these age groups but not widely offering it until now. I had thought school children were the main spreader of Covid but I was talking to a 20 something year old yesterday who had recently been to a busy nightclub where masks and distancing were not even considered. It is no great surprise but surely it is this age group that presents the higher risk. Fortunately they are not only the age group that suffer less seriously but they should also have been vaccinated. Fingers crossed as usual.
Some readers have asked what has happened to the early overnight news section of the Rich Report. I had stopped it around the time my wife became ill but have not yet restarted. Perhaps a tad lazy on my part but to be honest there just isn’t that much news around. There is really something of a holiday feel at the moment. The number of ‘out of office’ emails I get each day when I send the reports certainly supports this idea, and quite right too. It is August after all. As and when we have a little more news to offer I’ll look to restart, but I’m not going to find news just for the sake of it.
- 09.00 EU markit services PMI
- 09.30 UK markit services PMI
- 10.00 EU retail sales
- 13.15 US ADP employment change
- 14.45 US markit services PMI
- 15.00 US services ISM
- 15.00 Feds Clarida speaks
- 02.30 AUS trade balance
Comments