Morning Update – 18/05/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St had a wobble as Trump gets himself into deeper trouble and it looks like an independent investigation may be set up. (CNN: US Justice department to appoint a special prosecutor for the Russia probe; former FBI director Mueller named the special council for the Russia probe). S&P closed down 1.82%, the Dow down 1.78% and the NASDAQ down 2.57% due to high leveraged speculation recently. This saw US yields tumble and test recent lows at 2.2% in the 10yr which have bounced slightly overnight. This hit USDJPY hard which made a low of 110.53 overnight as the Nikkei fell. The Nikkei closed down 1.37%.. In the US there are also concerns as Q1 Household debt surpasses 2008 peak at $12.5 trn. The EUR remained strong on a weaker USD but also strong CPI data from Europe; the highest YoY core CPI in Eurozone since June 2013.. GBP/USD remains under 1.3000 resistance; UK unemployment rate dipped to 4.67%, the lowest since 1975. BUT surge in UK jobs growth clouded by falling real wages.. In Japan Japan Q1 GDP q/q beats: 0.5% vs 0.4% cons-Japan Q1 GDP annualised: 2.2% vs 1.7% cons-BoJ’s Iwata: No decision on how the BoJ will exit their ultra-loose policy; the impact from the stimulus exit on the BoJ’s financial health depends on interest rates & the tools the BoJ employs. AUD bounced with a weaker USD but also stronger data.. Australian Apr Unemployment Rate: 5.7% vs 5.9% -Australian Apr Employment change beats 37.4k vs 5k consensus. Oil is marginally lower with gold unchanged.. This morning we get UK Retail Sales which will dominate the morning after strong UK data the last 2 days.. Will the higher inflation hit sales? We also hear from Draghi today and other ECB speakers. Good luck..