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(A look at the day ahead from chief emerging markets
correspondent Karin Strohecker. The views expressed are her own)
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - The end of H1, the end of a
quarter, the end of a month - all of them pretty extraordinary
with plenty of milestones and records, providing investors with
lots to chew over as they prepare to see whether the second half
of the year can bring a return to some form of ordinary.
Global stocks - up around 18% this quarter - look determined
to put in a sprint finish with Europe following Asia higher
though U.S. stock futures signal declines on Wall Street later.
Safe-haven bond yields are coming down a touch, the dollar
is holding firm, oil prices are slipping on demand woes and gold
is flirting with an eight-year high as markets take note of what
is going on in the world outside.
And there is plenty to choose from.
China's parliament passed the national security legislation
for Hong Kong, setting the stage for the most radical changes to
the former British colony's way of life since it returned to
Chinese rule 23 years ago and pushing Beijing further along a
collision course with the U.S. and other Western governments.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in a glimpse of
prepared remarks for a key congressional testimony later, warned
the outlook for the world's largest economy is "extraordinarily
uncertain" and much depended on bringing the coronavirus under
control, signalling more monetary stimulus may be necessary.
Infection numbers make for grim reading in the United
States. California and Texas both marked record spikes in new
COVID-19 cases while Los Angeles reported an "alarming" one-day
surge in America's second-largest city that put it over 100,000
cases.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel renewed her push for the
bloc's COVID-19 rescue fund and held out hope fellow EU member
states will overcome differences at the July summit.
Data from China gives some reason for cheer with factory
activity expanding at a stronger pace than expected in June,
though the breakdown also shows export orders and jobs continue
to contract. Meanwhile Japan industrial production fell for a
fourth straight month in May as the economy slumps deeper into
recession.
UK data shows Britain's economy shrank by the most since
1979 between January and March as households slashed their
spending. This comes ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson
setting out his plan to spend the British economy out of its
coronavirus-induced crisis, promising to fast-track 5 billion
pounds($6.1 billion) of infrastructure investment.
In Europe, bourses in Frankfurt and Paris jump around 0.5%
at open while London also edges up.
In corporate news, Royal Dutch Shell said it would
write down the value of its assets by up to $22 billion after
lowering its long-term outlook on oil and gas prices. Standard
Life Aberdeen announces Keith Skeoch is to stand down as
chief executive after five years at the helm with former
Citigroup executive Stephen Bird replacing him. German
lender Commerzbank considers 7,000 more redundancies.
Wirecard shares jump 63% as its regional arms look
to sketch out ways ahead. The central bank in Singapore - home
to the Asia-Pacific headquarter of the scandal-ridden German
payments company - said Wirecard's local entities were assessing
their ability to continue providing services. Meanwhile the
firm's U.S. entity said it had put itself up for sale.
In M&A news, Australia's Infigen backs a revised
Iberdrola takeover offer and Alaskan officials approve
BP's sale of oil leases to Hilcorp as part of a
previously announced $5.6 billion deal.
($1 = 0.8153 pounds)
(Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
