Weak Chinese Consumption Data Turned Markets into Red Territory this Morning

Positive news on two new vaccine trials supported the markets last evening, S&P gained 0.9%, Nasdaq closed 0.6% higher. The shares of drugmakers involved surged – AstraZeneca added 5%, Moderna gained 7%. The yield on 10Y USTs lost 0.7 bps and closed at 0.631% level.

Asian equities trading lower today after weak retail sales in China (-1.8% vs +0.3% expected) offset better than expected economic growth figures for the second quarter (3.2% vs 2.5% expected). CSI dropped by 1.6%, Hang Seng depreciated by 1.1%.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday supported by OPEC report which showed the fall of the output by 2 mio barrels/day from May till June. Even though Opec member nations and Russia agreed on unwinding output cuts, Saudi oil minister commented that the increase in production might be smaller than expected – it supported the prices: Brent traded 2.1% higher, WTI gained 2.3%.

Russian Eurobonds traded higher along the curve on Wednesday, adding 10-50 bps in price. RUB traded flat at 70.9 lvl vs USD. Ministry of Finance sold RUB 50 bn of RFLB 24 and RUB 23 bn of RFLB 30 during its weekly auction yesterday.

On SSA front, sovereign bonds appreciated on Wednesday supported by oil. ANGOL and NGERIA added 30-60 bps in price across the curve.