John Bolton’s Claim
UNITED STATES
Overnight, sentiment came off a touch after coronavirus cases climbed and John Bolton’s claim that US President Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help with his re-election bid. S&P was -0.4% lower while the NASDAQ showed a small 0.2% gain. The yield on 10Y USTs fell 0.04% to 0.702%.
UNITED KINGDOM
May CPI figures dropped to the 4Y low – 0.5% from 0.8% in April; core CPI eased to 1.2%. The data comes as the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee meets for its June policy meeting today. For the moment the central bank is likely to leave its interest rate settings unchanged, however it may increase its asset purchases. On Wednesday, GBP currency closed lower vs USD (-0.15%) while the yield on 10Y UKTs dropped by 2 bps to 0.188%.
OIL
Oil benchmarks dropped on Wednesday influenced by the common market sentiment. WTI lost 1.7%, Brent was down by 1.1%. Data released overnight showed US oil output had fallen to its lowest level in two years.
ASIA
Asian stocks are trading in red this morning as rising coronavirus cases and geopolitical risks weighed on investors. Hang Seng and Topix are 1% down, ASX 200 dropped 1.3%.
RUSSIA
MinFin sold RUB 162 bn of OFZ during its weekly auctions yesterday (its second best result after the record auction dated May 27th). RUB remained almost unchanged on Wednesday; sovereign Eurobonds traded flat as well. Russia metals & mining company Alsora came with a new issue on Wednesday with a USD 500 mio 3.1% 7Y bonds issuance. Bid-to-cover ratio was 3.2.
SSA
In SSA front we saw a correction yesterday, NGERIA sovereign bonds fell by 0.5 pts in price on average, ANGOL bonds closed slightly lower as well.