Morning Briefing: Markets mostly lower ahead of US-China meeting

Markets mostly lower ahead of US-China meeting
With President Trump meeting President Xi Pinjing this week, the markets are weighing the possible outcomes; most analysts are expecting tension based on Trump’s comments so far.

Asian markets were also focused on other issues Tuesday including an apparent terrorist attack on Russia’s metro and the RBA’s decision to keep Australian interest rates on hold. The central bank’s dovish tone dampened sentiment on the ASX which closed lower along with most of its peers. Shanghai is closed for a public holiday while Hong Kong was one of the few Asian bourses to close higher. 

Europe’s markets are awaiting a speech by ECB president Mario Draghi later and also considering data including a rise in Eurozone retail sales. Equity markets are largely trending lower though with the exception of London.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. Canadian International Merchandise trade and several US manufacturing indexes are due later.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,650.21 (-0.06 per cent)	-1.69 per cent	+16.42 per cent
TSX Composite	15,584.40 (+0.24 per cent)	-0.15 per cent	+16.86 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,306.39 (+0.33 per cent)	-0.92 per cent	+18.52 per cent
German DAX	12,246.88 (-0.08 per cent)	+1.83 per cent	+24.69 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,456.05 (+0.56 per cent)	+0.82 per cent	+7.27 per cent
Japan Nikkei	18,810.25 (-0.91 per cent)	-3.38 per cent	+16.67 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
53.02 (-0.19 per cent)	50.13 (-0.22 per cent)	1260.40 (+0.51 per cent)	U$0.7441
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7554

Banks under attack from hackers linked to N. Korea says report
A report by Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky warns that financial institutions are facing increasing cyber attacks from North Korean-backed hackers.

While the attacks cause significant disruption for banks, there is a more sinister motive; using stolen funds to progress North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The hackers have targeted many banks especially in developing economies; using sophisticated networks to evade detection. But CNN reports that Kaspersky researchers have found links to North Korea.