Morning Briefing: Markets cautious ahead of central banks

Markets cautious ahead of central banks

The Fed’s Janet Yellen speaks in London Tuesday while Europe’s central bank forum continues and the BoE’s Mark Carney has also been talking to the press; putting central banks in focus.

Oil and gold prices have remained buoyant overnight but concerns surrounding the global oil glut make the market risky.

Asian markets closed mixed with Shanghai and Tokyo gaining while Sydney and Hong Kong slipped.

European markets are mixed following the ECB’s president Mario Draghi’s defence of the bank’s monetary policies, with an end to its stimulus program unlikely in the near term.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. US home price data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	21,409.55 (+0.07 per cent)	+1.56 per cent	+24.91 per cent
TSX Composite	15,316.02 (-0.02 per cent)	-0.65 per cent	+11.88 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,431.06 (-0.21 per cent)	-1.54 per cent	+24.22 per cent
German DAX	12,695.11 (+0.59 per cent)	+0.74 per cent	+36.97 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,674.72 (+0.18 per cent)	+5.58 per cent	+17.76 per cent
Japan Nikkei	20,225.09 (+0.36 per cent)	+2.73 per cent	+32.11 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
46.17 (+0.74 per cent)	43.66 (+0.65 per cent)	1252.10 (+0.46 per cent)	U$0.7562
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7610

Carney to increase UK banks’ capital buffers

UK banks will be required to add U$14.5 billion to their capital buffers under proposals from Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

The increases are due to risks from rising consumer credit and the unknown outcome of the Brexit talks. There will be staggered increases, in June 2018 and November.

The central bank says that a measured approach to the buffer increases is “likely to decrease the risk that banks adjust by tightening credit conditions, thereby minimizing the cost to the economy of making the banking system more resilient.”

The increase had been expected a year ago but was delayed due to the Brexit vote.