UK lawmakers ask court to prevent suspension

Asia

Asian indexes are mainly in the red this morning, the Hang Seng losing a quarter percent after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lamb told a group of business people she would quit if she could.

Spanish fashion maker Zara has expressed support for the Chinese government in the struggle after closing 4 stores on the island. On the mainland, two days after the US and China enacted their mutual tariffs, the Yuan continues south at a rate of 20 pips per day.

And Australia overnight maintained its 1% interest rate as retail sales in July contracted by 0.1% MoM. Bank Governor Low pointed out domestic uncertainty, unemployment and low inflation as problematic.

Europe

European indexes closed in the green yesterday, led by the FTSE’s 1.04%, others trailing far behind in the 0.1-0.2% region. The pound is down 150 pips to 1.2023 against the dollar, breaking its 40-week low in 2017 as a bi-partisan group of UK politicians prepare to initiate legal proceedings against Boris Johnson’s proposal to suspend an anti-no-deal Brexit Parliament – thereby drawing the judiciary into the political fray.

The British Retail Consortium yesterday reported a 0.5% contraction in like-for-like retail sales in August, but Reuters reports stockpiling of food by some households ahead of Brexit.

The Telegraph this morning reports that no real negotiations are taking place between PM Johnson and his European counterparts. British manufacturing contracted for the 4th month in a row, joining Germany’s Markit data. Of 5 states reporting PMIs yesterday, only France showed an expansionary 51.1.

US

US markets were closed for Labour Day yesterday, allowing all three major index futures to lose between 0.7 and 0.8% of their value, as the USD added 0.32%.

Yesterday China lodged a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization, whose charter limits the tariffs a country can charge to the imports from one specific country.

Meanwhile, the US Congress’ Judiciary Committee is preparing to investigate President Trump’s “hush money” payments to adult-film stars and models.

Commodities

Oil trades below the $55 mark as Russia and Iran meet in Moscow to discuss joint energy projects, as Iran continues to prevent UN investigations into its nuclear storage facilities.

Gold trading continues trending sideways in the 1530-1540 range ahead of today’s US manufacturing PMIs. Bitcoin trading, having broken through resistance at 10.2K, is attempting to recover from a 2-month downtrend after refusing support at 8K after European Central Bank officials meeting in Frankfurt yesterday described Facebook’s Libra project as a “threat to democracy” and a “treacherous” attempt to undermine central banks’ ability to set monetary policy.

Corporate

Xiaomi shares soared 5% upon opening overnight in Hong Kong on the announcement of a $1.5 bn stock buyback plan. Pfizer will be paying a 36-cent dividend today, Visa 25 cents and Walmart – 53 cents.

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