US rig numbers rise for eighth week
The number of oil rigs in the US increased again last week in a further sign of raised production.
The Baker Hughes weekly report showed 10 rigs were added in all, taking the total to 491 and marking the eighth weekly increase in a row. All of them were oil rigs with no gas rigs added.
EXTRA U.S. DRILLING RIGS continue to target oil-rich rather than gas-rich formations. pic.twitter.com/SSg0O65l32
— John Kemp (@JKempEnergy) August 19, 2016
The crude price, which was at eight week highs earlier in the week on hopes of a deal next month to freeze output, is hovering in negative territory following the figures.
Brent crude is down 0.49% at $50.64 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate - the US benchmark - has slipped lower and is off 0.06% at $48.19.
On that note it’s time to close for the week. Thanks for all your comments and we’ll be back on Monday.
European markets close lower
Heading into the weekend, the uncertainty over when the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates has made for a cautious end to the trading week. Dovish minutes on Wednesday suggested a rate hike was off the table in the near future but subsequent comments from Fed members seemed to indicate otherwise. With oil slipping back from its recent highs, markets came under pressure again, although the August lull has meant trading volumes are thin. The final scores showed:
- The FTSe 100 finished down 10.01 points or 0.15% at 6858.95, with the index recording its worst weekly performance since mid-June
- Germany’s Dax dropped 0.55% to 10,544.36
- France’s Cac closed 0.82% lower at 4400.52
- Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 2.18% to 16,310.06
- Spain’s Ibex ended down 1.16% at 8450.6
- In Greece, the Athens market lost 1.91% to 561.32
On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently 24 points or 0.13% lower.
And here comes the denial:
UPDATE: UK PM Spokeswoman - does not recognise media report saying May is sympathetic to triggering article 50 by April 2017 at the latest.
— Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) August 19, 2016
A Bloomberg report suggesting that the UK government wants to trigger Article 50 - the start of the two year Brexit process - by next April has sent the pound lower.
Up until now, the UK was expected to delay Article 50 until at least the end of next year. ETX Capital said:
Big sell-off in sterling this afternoon amid rumours the UK wants to invoke Article 50 in the first half of 2017.
Cable is down more than 1% and flirting with the $1.30 level again after a report said Theresa May would like to start the exit process before French and German elections next year.
That means invoking Article 50 by April, putting paid to speculation that the UK would have several years to prepare to leave the EU. The less time the UK has to get things in order, the greater the market fears the fallout.
But sterling is still on course to end the week higher, having enjoyed solid gains on much stronger-than-expected retail sales yesterday, which suggests consumers at least are not downcast.
The pound is currently down 0.9% at $1.3052 and 0.6% lower against the euro at $1.1521.
Wall Street opens lower
As expected, US markets have followed the trend elsewhere, slipping back in early trading on talk of the Federal Reserve perhaps hiking rates sooner than had been expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently down 94 points or 0.5% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both opened around 0.2% lower.
Earlier this week there were protests outside the Bank of England against its quantitative easing programme, with calls for different measures to be used.
One such is so-called helicopter money, and one supporter of the idea is Marino Valensise, head of the multi asset and income at Barings. He says:
In simple terms, HM is “monetary financing of fiscal spending”, a central bank who prints money for its government to spend; a practice definitely not included in the Bundesbank’s instruction manual. However, we should keep an open mind after all - Mario Draghi sees it as a “very interesting concept” and Loretta Mester from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland considers it a possible “next step if … we wanted to be more accommodative”.
It is therefore important that we analyse, in simple terms, how HM could work. The first step would be to assess whether this type of monetary financing is allowed under current laws and regulations. In most jurisdictions, rules exist and limit the actions of a central bank.
Examples include Article 123 of the Treaty of Lisbon (EU), Article 5 of the Fiscal Act (Japan) and the Treasury Fed Accord of 1951 (US). However, loopholes and safe harbour clauses are easy to identify as most central banks are allowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to fulfil their mandate.
In practice, the central bank would deliver money to the treasury by receiving a meaningless asset (i.e. a zero coupon perpetual bond) in exchange, or – preferably - without any quid pro quo agreement. In either case, there would be no planned reimbursement for the sums extended. It is important that – at least for some time – this money creation is seen as permanent and irreversible, to avoid creating fears of challenging times ahead, and the associated desire to save, not spend or invest.
The more orthodox central bankers have nothing to fear as they would be in the driving seat. They would have the power to impose conditions and participate in the decision-making process of how this money should be spent.
In addition to ageing demographics in a number of key economic areas, there are three issues today that should be tackled. These are anaemic aggregate demand, persistence of excess supply and a growing social inequality. Any HM initiative must be dedicated to projects that aim to cure these.
It should help the majority of households by increasing their welfare and enhancing their disposable income, fostering confidence and promoting consumer spending, in order to benefit the majority of the population rather than enrich asset-holders by inflating financial asset prices. There could also be spending on long-term themes like education, and on structural issues strangling the economy, such as the banking’s sector non-performing assets.
We need a fiscal plan that aims to generate real prosperity without incurring public indebtedness, or offsetting its benefits with fears of a gloomier future in which debts must be repaid. It should also attempt to create inflation expectations, and trigger higher interest rates. While higher borrowing costs would mean weaker businesses would not survive, the profitability of the banking sector would be enhanced and insurance companies would receive crucial support. Perhaps, this policy could also lower the liabilities of defined benefit pension funds. Ultimately, inflation is the only solution to today’s global debt problem. Some inflation would reduce the real value of the accumulated debt.
All this considered, the question is how much money should be created and spent? The calibration of an HM policy would be much easier than that of QE. While QE relies on an uncertain transmission mechanism, whether banks will lend more or hoard the additional cash, the multiplier effect of HM is easier to forecast.
Only once the growth and inflation objectives are reached, would an exit policy be publicly discussed. Any overheating would be controlled by fiscal and monetary measures.
He concludes:
I believe that HM is superior to QE, and much better suited to our current challenges. It represents a pragmatic and superior alternative to any other policy, although it cannot be a panacea for structural issues such as poor demographics.
In a heavily indebted world, suffering from low economic growth and facing serious political issues originating from inequality, HM has the potential to outperform any other policy.
We must consider it now, or be forced to implement it in a hurry when the next economic recession hits.
Ahead of the US open, European markets are in negative territory as investors shy away from shares on renewed talk of a possible US interest rate rise after some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve board members.
The Stoxx 600 is down around 0.7%, heading for its biggest weekly loss since the middle of June. Earlier in the week the index hit a seven week high, but such volatility is typical of summer markets with light volumes.
Meanwhile Germany’s Dax has dropped 0.39% and France’s Cac is down 0.86%.
The FTSE 100 is virtually flat, however, down just 0.09% although it too is on track for its biggest weekly fall since mid-June.
Oil remains above $50 a barrel although it has slipped back from recent highs, with Brent crude down 0.5% at $50.63.
Sterling is fairly flat against the dollar at $1.3078 but is down 0.34% against the euro at €1.1557.
Updated
Several hours ago, I promised fresh news about the economic crisis in Mongolia (we’re a broad church in the liveblog).
And S&P have stepped up (ahem) by downgrading Mongolia’s credit-rating from B to B-. That’s deep into ‘junk’ territory, and just five notches above default.
The credit rating agency also slashed its growth forecast in 2016 to 1.3%, down from 2.6%. It says:
Our lower growth estimate stems partly from the ancillary effects of Mongolia’s weaker terms of trade and partly from the country’s mixed mining policies, which discouraged foreign direct investment.
Another key deteriorating risk factor for Mongolia relates to its public finances.
Mongolia has been hit hard by China’s slowing economy, which eroded demand for its natural resources. That has left Mongolia short of foreign currency reserves, and pushed its deficit up.
The country’s new finance minister warned of a “deep economic crisis” last week, which could leave it unable to pay civil servants’ salaries.
The Mongolian currency, the togrog, has been sliding in value ever since, forcing Mongolia’s central bank to hike interest rates by 4.5% (!) yesterday, to 15%.
Mongolia hasn’t been a world power for centuries, so it’s not too surprising that this crisis has slipped under the radar. But it’s still worth taking seriously.
Bloomberg have done a great piece on Mongolia’s problems - here’s a flavour:
Mongolia, a mineral-rich and landlocked $12 billion economy bordering Russia and China, is staring at a full-blown balance of payments crisis. It’s caused barely a ripple in global financial markets, but the nation’s economic meltdown offers instructive lessons to far bigger resource-reliant economies like Brazil, Venezuela, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
This is an economy that gives new meaning to what economists call the resource curse. An overabundance of natural resources can result in lopsided economic growth, government waste and boom-bust cycles that can leave a country’s finances in tatters.
“Mongolia should be much richer than it is,” said Lutz Roehmeyer, a money manager at Landesbank Berlin Investment who helps oversee about $12 billion of investments including local-currency Mongolian debt. “There is nowhere else in the world where it is so easy to dig up resources without any problems and sell the commodities to China with such low transportation costs.”
Mongolia is having an epic economic meltdown https://t.co/HKzeNnQZFa pic.twitter.com/KuQ3dhOkKZ
— Bloomberg (@business) August 19, 2016
Updated
OBR: Borrowing is over-shooting its target ( but it's early days)
Britain’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has warned that the government is on track to overshoot its borrowing targets in 2016-17.
The OBR is concerned that tax receipt growths have slowed this year, pulling July’s surplus down to only £1bn.
Unless that changes, Britain would fail to cut the deficit to £55.5bn this financial year (from £75.3bn), it fears.
Here’s the OBR’s official response to today’s figures (i’ve bolded the key points):
1) Public sector net borrowing (PSNB) recorded a surplus of £1.0 billion in July, a £0.2 billion deterioration on last year’s surplus. The surplus was £0.9 billion below market expectations. July is usually the second highest month for receipts during the financial year, reflecting the timing of corporation tax and self-assessment (SA) payments.
2) The underlying reason for the slightly smaller surplus than last year was that the 2.2 per cent growth in central government accrued receipts (excluding APF transfers) was slower than the 4.2 per cent growth in central government spending (excluding grants to local authorities). The rise in central government spending mostly reflected growth in departmental spending. Growth in central government receipts was depressed by weak income tax receipts, although this partly reflects timing effects as the first self-assessment (SA) payment deadline fell on a weekend this year.
3) Meeting our March EFO forecast for PSNB in 2016-17 would require it to fall by £19.8 billion over the full financial year. A third of the way through the financial year, PSNB was only £3.0 billion lower than last year. While prospects for the rest of the year are subject to greater uncertainty than usual due to the result of the EU referendum, it is still worth noting that receipts and spending data are volatile from month to month and prone to revision, especially at this relatively early stage of the year.
4) However, despite these timing effects, there is still evidence that growth in PAYE, NICs and stamp duty land tax (SDLT) was slower in the first four months of the year than would be required to meet our March forecast for the year as a whole. July’s data cover the first full month since the UK’s referendum on membership of the EU, but a very substantial proportion of the data in this month’s release is either a forecast or still reflects economic activity prior to the referendum. That means there is still little firm evidence on how the referendum result might affect the public finances this year.
More here.
The pound has dropped by half a cent against the US dollar so far today, to $1.312.
But even so, sterling has still gained 1.6%, or two cents, this week.
The pound has rallied as new inflation, unemployment and retail sales figures all came in stronger than expected, easing fears of an immediate slump following the Brexit vote.
Here’s our new Boom or Doom round-up of the week’s economic data:
In other news, Britain’ s housing market seemed to cool last month, with estate agents seeing fewer potential buyers....
Labour: UK needs investment now
John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor, is concerned that Britain’s £1bn surplus in July is smaller than a year ago.
He says:
Today’s public finances show a budget surplus that has fallen compared to this time last year. And the Treasury’s own comparisons of independent economic forecasts show a dramatic revision downwards in growth and upwards in inflation, unemployment and public sector net borrowing.
McDonnell argues that the government should be urgently revising its fiscal plans, rather than leaving us all in suspense until the autumn statement:
The UK economy needs immediate investment from the Government, rather than sticking to the failed policies of George Osborne which have helped create the problem. Britain is on hold waiting for Philip Hammond to tell us whether he will stick to his predecessor’s planned cuts to investment, and firms and households can’t wait until the autumn to find out.
“The country needs a different plan that will end austerity, and start to invest in the infrastructure and housing a 21st century economy demands. That’s why Labour would invest £500 billion to rebuild and transform our economy.”
Economist: Government to miss borrowing target
Sam Tombs of Pantheon Economics has crunched today’s public finance numbers, and concluded that the government is on track to miss its borrowing target for 2016-17.
Here’s his workings out:
Underwhelming July surplus leaves public borrowing set to hit £66.7B this year, £11.2B more than the OBR forecast: pic.twitter.com/Rij5rqt0cG
— Samuel Tombs (@samueltombs) August 19, 2016
Public finances show clear signs of a slowdown: tax receipts grew just 3.4%y/y in July, below the OBR's 5.1% fc for the 4th month in a row.
— Samuel Tombs (@samueltombs) August 19, 2016
He reckons this will give Philip Hammond little wriggle room (unless he abandons deficit reduction altogether, I guess)
“July’s relatively small surplus means that the Chancellor will be able to put together only a modest package of measures to support the economy in the Autumn Statement later this year.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond will be “slightly disappointed” that July’s surplus dipped to just below £1bn, from £1.2bn in July 2015, reckons Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight.
July usually sees a surplus in the public finances as it is a key month for tax receipts). While the public finances are expected to be increasingly pressurized by the Brexit vote going forward, it was premature for there to have been much impact in July. However, the ONS did indicate that the July figures included forecasts and the data can also be influenced by different timings of tax payments.
George Osborne has put down his gun and turned to Twitter:
After all these years, I finally have a front page in the Daily Mirror worth keeping
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) August 19, 2016
And here it is...
MIRROR: Osborne goes Rambo #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/beq2PjrCCG
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) August 18, 2016
Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, isn’t terribly impressed by today’s numbers:
“July’s surplus was smaller than the £1.2bn surplus recorded in July 2015 and left public borrowing in the fiscal year to date at £23.7bn, only 11.3% lower than the £26.7bn seen in the same period in 2015-16.
This compares with the OBR’s Budget forecast of a 26.3% drop in borrowing for 2016-17 as a whole.
That forecast will be history, though, though, if Philip Hammond tears up gun-totin’ George Osborne’s fiscal strategy.....
Updated
Our public finances news story
Here’s Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, on today’s public finance data:
‘July is normally one of the bumper months for tax receipts, because HMRC gets a lot of payments of income tax from self-employed people, and also quarterly corporation tax payments from companies, which is why the government found itself quids in last month.
Of course the elephant in the room is Brexit, and what effect this will have on tax receipts going forward, but so far the hard economic data has actually been pretty robust, though it’s obviously very early days.
Laith adds that chancellor Philip Hammond may tear up the government’s austerity programme in the autumn statement:
That could well see previous borrowing targets thrown out of the window, if the new government decides supporting the economy is more important than keeping a lid on debt.’
PwC: No sign of Brexit downturn yet....
PwC chief economist John Hawksworth has cast his expert eye over Britain’s public finances, and concluded that they’re not too shabby.
“The public finances were in surplus by £1 billion in July, which is a reasonable performance albeit slightly down on the £1.2 billion budget surplus recorded in July 2015.
“For the four months to July, the cumulative budget deficit in this financial year is running around £3 billion lower than in the same period last year, though the rate of deficit reduction has been slower than the OBR forecast back in March.
But while there’s no immediate sign of a Brexit shock, the full impact of June’s referendum won’t be seen for some time (as ONS chief economist Joe Grice also warned this morning).
Hawksworth explains:
“Overall, as with other official data released this week for retail sales and the unemployment claimant count, there is no real sign yet of a downturn in economic fortunes following the Brexit vote. But it will be some months before we get a clearer picture of this as it will take time for companies to adjust their investment and hiring plans to the new post-referendum environment.”
Government: UK ready for Brexit turbulence
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, says today’s public finances show Britain is in good shape to handle the aftermath of the EU referendum vote.
Here’s his official statement:
“With the public finances in surplus in July, our economy starts from a position of strength to face any economic turbulence following the vote to leave the EU.
“As we keep working to cut the deficit, we are well-placed to handle any challenges and seize the opportunities as our economy adjusts. We are determined to build on our economic strengths to ensure Britain is a country that works for everyone.”
We are well-placed to handle the challenges & seize the opportunities as our economy adjusts & builds on our economic strengths.
— David Gauke (@DavidGauke) August 19, 2016
Correction: The UK national debt is £1.6 TRILLION, of course, not £1.6bn. Apologies, and thanks to those of you who kindly pointed it out. #grauniad.
July’s £1bn surplus won’t make much of a dent in Britain’s national debt.
The UK now owes £1.6 trillion <corrected> to investors, which equates to 82.9% of GDP (the value of all the goods and services currently produced by the UK economy in a year).
But the national debt does seem to be levelling out, as a percentage of GDP.
Updated
Fraser Munro, public sector finance statistician at the ONS, is tweeting the key points from today’s data.
This chart shows how the UK has borrowed less this year, than in 2015-2016.
July public sector #borrowing in surplus by £1.0bn; £0.2bn less surplus than July 2015 pic.twitter.com/0vKBYCaLY8
— Fraser Munro (@FraserMunroPSF) August 19, 2016
More details:
UK pub sector #borrowing £23.7bn for financial year-to-date; £3.0bn down on last year; lowest since 2008 pic.twitter.com/3sz82SBoAT
— Fraser Munro (@FraserMunroPSF) August 19, 2016
Updated
Anyone looking for evidence of Brexit vote impact in today’s report should tread cautiously, says the ONS, as the figures could easily be revised in future.
The data presented in this bulletin presents the latest fiscal position of the public sector as at 31 July 2016 and so includes the first post-EU referendum data.
However, estimates for the latest period always contain a substantial forecast element and so any post-referendum impact may not become clear for some time.
The BBC’s Joe Lynam reminds us that July’s public finances are usually decent, as firms often pay their quarterly corporation tax bills.
UK ran a budget surplus - excluding state-owned banks - of £1bn last month (less than expected). July usually good month for receipts
— Joe Lynam BBC Biz (@BBC_Joe_Lynam) August 19, 2016
UK PUBLIC BORROWING FALLS
Breaking: Britain ran a surplus of £1bn in July, thanks to a pick-up in corporation tax receipts.
That’s less than some analysts had expected.
But this means that so far this financial year, UK has borrowed £3bn less than a year ago, suggesting that the government’s deficit-reduction plan may still be on course.
The Public sector net borrowing requirement in July came in at minus £1.472bn last month, the Office for National Statistics reports.
Excluding the impact of state-owned banks, and the surplus shrinks to £977m.
UK ONS: Public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks) was in surplus by £1.0 billion in July 2016;
— Shaun Richards (@notayesmansecon) August 19, 2016
Corporation tax receipts were the strongest for any July since 2011, the ONS adds.
And this means that Britain has borrowed £23.7bn since the start of the financial year in April, which is the smallest deficit since the financial crisis.
More here:
UK pub sector #borrowing £23.7bn for financial year-to-date; £3.0bn down on last year; lowest since 2008 https://t.co/ingi5Aj6Dc
— ONS (@ONS) August 19, 2016
Updated
Robin Bew of the Economist Intelligence Unit agrees with Joe Grice....
Decent #UK retail data is no surprise. Too early for FX effect. And investment impact of #Brexit will hit employment only slowly
— Robin Bew (@RobinBew) August 19, 2016
Today’s public finances will show whether the UK government is still on track to hit its deficit targets for this financial year.
Former chancellor George Osborne has his mind on other issues, though – he’s been spied blasting a machine gun at a former Viet Cong base near Ho Chi Minh city.
Probably less dangerous than inflicting his threatened punishment budget on the UK....
George Osborne spotted firing machine gun on holiday in Vietnam https://t.co/UFuLMW8g06
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) August 19, 2016
Updated
A lacklustre start to trading has seen London’s FTSE 100 index drop by 17 points, or 0.24%, to 6852 points.
But budget airline easyJet is defying the selloff. Its shares have jumped by 2.6% to the top of the Footsie leaderboard.
The Times’s Dominic Walsh has heard some chatter about a possible takeover, but it sounds pretty speculative. And in a quiet summer, it doesn’t take much to move shares. So we shall see....
Some spivvy talk of bid interest in easyJet. Must be August!
— Dominic Walsh (@walshdominic) August 18, 2016
Oil hits two-month high
Oil has hit its highest level since the EU referendum, driven by ongoing speculation that producers could reach some kind of deal soon.
Brent hit $51.22 per barrel, an eight-week high, putting it on track for its eighth day in a row.
Traders are calculating that the OPEC cartel might agree some measures to shore up the oil price, when they meet in Algeria in September
The Telegraph’s Tara Cunningham flags up that oil has now gained 22% since August 2, putting it in a Bull Market again.
From bear to bull market in just 16 days: #Oil hits highest level since #Brexit vote. https://t.co/OiPwfIxtg2 pic.twitter.com/g839t8mKPe
— Tara Cunningham (@TaraSCunningham) August 19, 2016
Quite a turnaround in two weeks....
Oil markets making the Forex look like a calm reasonable environment
— World First (@World_First) August 19, 2016
Updated
ONS: Can't rule out Brexit recession yet...
This was billed as the week when Britain would discover the economic pain caused by the Brexit vote.
And the patient looks to be in better health than some experts had feared. So far, we’ve learned that:
-
Inflation: rose to 0.6% in July from 0.5%, but with no evidence of a Brexit effect
-
Unemployment: A welcome fall in the claimant count in July, while the jobless rate remained at 4.9% in April-June
-
Retail Sales: Smashed expectations in July, with a 1.4% jump
So can we put fears of a Brexit recession to bed?
Not according to Joe Grice, the chief economist of the Office for National Statistics. Speaking on Bloomberg TV this morning, Grice explained that it’s too early to really know the impact of the EU referendum vote.
For example, the labour market report shows that Brexit uncertainty in the run-up to the referendum didn’t hurt the economy much, but doesn’t really show the impact of the vote.
The 1.4% jump in July retail sales, though, is “hard” evidence of what’s happening in the real economy. All retail sectors did well, especially department stores and clothing shops. But....
They don’t tell us anything about what businesses were doing, they don’t say anything about trade.....but they do say that consumers were spending strongly.
That suggests that fears of a “catastrophic fall in consumer confidence” immediately after the referendum can be crossed off, as it hasn’t happened, Grice adds. But still....
Does that mean there won’t be a recession? No. The story is still to unfold.
Updated
The agenda: Public finances coming up...
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
After a week of largely encouraging economic data from Britain, there’s still one important measure before we can clock off for the weekend - July’s UK public finances.
Due at 9.30am, this will show whether the British government had to borrow from international investors to balance the books in the weeks after the EU referendum.
July is usually a good month for tax receipts, so the City is hoping that Westminster may actually have run a surplus - of perhaps £2.2bn. That would indicate that the economy was motoring along pretty well.
A poor reading, though, might reignite concerns that growth is slowing - despite the moderate price pressures, low unemployment and strong consumer spending reported this week.
And a quick truffle through this morning’s research notes show that analysts are a little concerned.
Paul Hollingsworth of Capital Economics expects to be underwhelmed:
The first post-referendum set of public borrowing figures look set to be disappointing. We have pencilled in a surplus of £1bn in July, marginally lower than a year ago.
And the team at RBS Capital Markets fears Britain may actually have run up a deficit in July:
July is seasonally a good month for tax receipts with a second wave of self-assessment tax payments, quarterly corporation tax instalments and the first of three payments through the year by oil and gas firms.
The OBR has said it planned for modest tax receipts from those oil and gas companies on the back of weak commodity prices. Our simple arithmetic process points to a surplus on the government budget of £1bn for July, but in light of modest expectations for those tax receipts and poor outturns in earlier months of this financial year the risk is for a smaller surplus or possibly even a deficit.
There’s not much else on the agenda today, but we’ll keep an eye on the oil price, and a nasty economic crisis unfolding in Mongolia (more on that shortly....)
And in the absence of much news, European stock markets are expected to be pretty flat...
Our European opening calls:$FTSE 6860 down 9
— IGSquawk (@IGSquawk) August 19, 2016
$DAX 10590 down 13
$CAC 4429 down 8$IBEX 8527 down 23$MIB 16657 down 17
Updated
