Morning Update – 05/12/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St opened strongly as the Trump tax breakthrough saw strong demand from the off but the rally petered out into the close on Wall St and the S&P failed to manage to close positive. The Dow rose 0.24% but the Nasdaq had a bad day closing down over 1% as the rotation from tech continues. In FX the markets were rather trapped but The Australian dollar jumped on stronger-than-expected retail sales data and comments on inflation from the central bank. Reserve Bank of Australia said it sees inflation quickening as it left its cash rate at a record-low 1.5 percent for a 15th straight meeting on Tuesday. The New Zealand dollar jumped 0.5 percent to 68.93 U.S. cents after comments from the central bank’s acting governor. Grant Spencer said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand was becoming more flexible in its inflation targeting. In China, a private report on services indicated that the sector expanded more firmly last month than in October. Caixin’s China composite and services PMIs came in at 51.6 and 51.9, respectively, in November. It’s the latest data point for a world economy that’s chugging along enough for some central banks to be raising rates and winding down stimulus programs. BoJ’s Kuroda said it is appropriate to patiently continue bold monetary easing under current framework, still far from 2% inflation target; recent price index still weak, due to deflationary mindset and companies cautious price-setting stance; presumptuous to say whether willing to serve 2nd term as BoJ Gov, no discussion with Abe on the topic. This morning we get a raft of Services PMI data across Europe and the UK, starting with Sweden (61.4 last). We also get EU Retail sales.. Good luck..