Morning Briefing: Geopolitics dominates markets

Geopolitics dominates markets
The markets are focused on geopolitics Monday with the war of words between the US and Russia over Syria taking centre stage.

The matter has included Russia and Iran warning of retaliation for any further intervention, North Korea claiming justification for its nuclear weapons program, the British foreign minister cancelling a planned visit to Moscow, and some members of US Congress questioning President Trump’s authority to have launched missile strikes.

Also in focus is a terrorist attack on Sweden and a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy. 

Asian markets closed mostly lower although materials helped Sydney’s ASX close higher and Tokyo’s Nikkei was also a strong performer.

European indexes are trending mostly lower with London the notable exception. The French presidential election campaign gets underway.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open flat. The Fed’s Janet Yellen speaks later. Canadian housing starts data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,656.10 (-0.03 per cent)	-1.18 per cent	+17.52 per cent
TSX Composite	15,667.13 (-0.19 per cent)	+1.03 per cent	+16.95 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,355.22 (+0.08 per cent)	+0.17 per cent	+18.55 per cent
German DAX	12,211.91 (-0.11 per cent)	+2.08 per cent	+26.91 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,505.64 (-0.34 per cent)	+2.27 per cent	+10.04 per cent
Japan Nikkei	18,797.88 (+0.71 per cent)	-4.12 per cent	+18.81 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
55.68 (+0.80 per cent)	52.63 (+0.75 per cent)	1255.20 (-0.17 per cent)	U$0.7465
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7486

Another banking investigation as Barclays chief is probed

The chief executive of Barclays Bank is being investigated by two regulators in the UK into the bank’s handling of a whistleblowing incident.

Jes Staley attempted to find out who had written a whistleblowing letter last year and an investigation carried out by a law firm found that the leader believed that he was entitled to do so.

He later apologized and the letter’s author was not identified, Reuters reports. The CEO was also formally reprimanded and financially penalized by the bank.

The UK regulators will now carry out their own investigation into Barclays’ procedures relating to whistleblowing.