Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
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Snap election in the U.K., North Korea rattles back, and the selloff in iron ore accelerates. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
May calls snap election
British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she is calling a snap general election in the U.K., with the vote to be held on June 8th. With a 19 point lead in polls over her nearest rivals, this seems to be an opportunity for her party to gain a sizeable majority. Follow Bloomberg to keep up to date on the latest with this breaking story.
North Korea
Tensions continue to rise on the Korean peninsula with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence saying at a press conference in Japan that all options -- including unilateral military action -- are on the table when it comes to dealing with the Hermit Kingdom. China has given the U.S. encouraging signs that it will pressure Kim Jong Un's regime to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. North Korea's UN envoy warned that the region was on the brink of war.
Iron ore collapse
Mining stocks took a hit in Asia trading as the decline in iron ore prices picked up speed. Futures for the commodity have fallen more than seven percent in the last two days alone, despite better than expected Chinese GDP data. There was better news for oil bulls, however, with Citigroup Inc. predicting a barrel of crude would trade in the mid-$60s by the end of the year.
Markets drop
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.5 percent, while Japan's Topix index ended the session 0.4 percent higher as the yen weakened against the dollar. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.9 percent lower by 5:35 a.m Eastern Time, with commodity producers leading the losses. S&P 500 futures also pointed to a drop at the open.
No taper tantrum
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said he doesn't expect the market to repeat of the so-called taper tantrum of 2013 when the central bank starts to unwind its multi-trillion dollar balance sheet. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he prefers a stronger U.S. dollar "over time" in an interview with the Financial Times. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped to 2.223 percent by 5:45 a.m.
What we've been reading
This is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
- Erdogan says he doesn't care what 'Hans' thinks in rebuke to EU.
- London house-price growth is at five-year low.
- Iran poll shows Rouhani could lose vote despite popularity.
- Don't assume strong growth needs a credit expansion.
- China's booming dollar bond market faces threat from within.
- Israel asks itself how long it can sit on the shekel.
- Trump takes aim at outsourcing in H-1B visa review.
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To contact the authors of this story: Lorcan Roche Kelly in Dublin at lrochekelly@bloomberg.net, Joe Weisenthal in New York at jweisenthal@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tracy Alloway at talloway@bloomberg.net.