Asia
Weakness in the Chinese yuan, combined with ongoing trade fears and the ripple effect from the Turkey crisis, saw China shares sold off again on Wednesday. The Shanghai Composite Index lost another 2% to just above 2,700 points, revisiting levels last seen a month ago. The closely watched index made an attempt to recover towards 3,000 points at the end of July but has faltered since.
Japan’s Nikkei and Topix indices were softer despite ongoing firmness of the US dollar.
Japanese export, import and trade balance data is due on Thursday morning.
Europe
UK inflation rose to 2.5% in July from 2.4% in June on higher transport costs, based on the Consumer Price Index. The pound attempted a rise against the euro and dollar, which took the edge off an already softer FTSE 100. Nevertheless, sterling is way below levels seen in July and indeed in the first few months of the year – the pound is now trading at $1.27, against around $1.43 in April. Moves against the euro have been less dramatic but the trend so far this year has been downward.
Car insurance firm Admiral (ADM) topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard after first-half results. Fresnillo (FRES) was under pressure as commodity shares were sold off. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) confirmed that it would restart its dividend after a 10-year hiatus, following a settlement with the US Department of Justice. The bank’s shares initially rose but have since dipped into negative territory.
North America
In terms of companies reporting today, Cisco (CSCO) is one of the biggest by market capitalisation. High-profile speaker firm Sonos (SONO), which made its debut on Nasdaq at the start of August at $15 a share, also reports. The company’s shares rose initially to $21 after the flotation but have since tracked lower.
In terms of this week’s economics, retail sales data is due today, and weekly jobless claims and monthly housing starts are due on Thursday.
Retail sales are expected to have risen 0.1% month on month in July, against a rise of 0.5% in June.
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