Consumer sentiment rose slightly in early June due to consumers' more favorable assessments of their current financial situation and more favorable views of current buying conditions for household durables. The Expectations Index, in contrast, declined to its lowest level since the start of the year due to less favorable prospects for the overall economy. The sharpest divide was between the record number of households who mentioned recent income gains and the highest expected year-ahead inflation rate since 2015. At some point in every economic expansion, favorable income and job prospects act to offset higher inflation and interest rate expectations.

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Friday, hurt by reignited fears over a trade war between the U.S. and China, following the imposition of tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods by the Trump administration.

Global Stocks:

Manufacturing production fell 0.7 percent in May, largely because truck assemblies were disrupted by a major fire at a parts supplier. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory output moved down 0.2 percent. The index for mining rose 1.8 percent, its fourth consecutive month of growth; the output of utilities moved up 1.1 percent. At 107.3 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 3.5 percent higher in May than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.2 percentage point in May to 77.9 percent, a rate that is 1.9 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2017) average.

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

United Tech (UTX) resumed with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley; target $160

Business activity continued to grow strongly in New York State, according to firms responding to the June 2018 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index climbed five points to 25.0, indicating a faster pace of growth than in May. Both the new orders index and the shipments index showed ongoing solid growth, with the former rising five points to 21.3 and the latter moving up four points to 23.5.

At the same time, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $652 million, on large sales of US shares.

Foreign investment in Canadian securities amounted to $9.1 billion in April and mainly targeted the Canadian bond market.

Foreign investors resumed their acquisitions of Canadian bonds in April by adding $8.8 billion worth to their holdings, following four straight months of divestment. The activity in the month reflected foreign purchases of corporate bonds moderated by sales of government bonds.

Manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $56.2 billion in April, following two consecutive monthly increases.

Sales were down in 10 of 21 industries, representing 49.6% of the manufacturing sector. Sales in the petroleum and coal products and transportation equipment industries accounted for much of the decrease in April. Excluding these two industries, manufacturing sales rose 0.4%.

In constant dollars, manufacturing sales in volumes declined 1.9%.

In April, sales in the petroleum and coal products industry fell 10.9% to $5.2 billion, a third consecutive monthly decline. The decrease in April was entirely due to lower sales volumes, as prices for the industry rose 4.5%, according to the Industrial Product Price Index. Partial shutdowns at a number of Canadian refineries for maintenance work during the month were a major contributor to the decline in volumes sold (-13.2%).

According to public German broadcaster HR, CSU has left alliance with Merkel's CDU, presser at 3pm. source is internal email by Merkel deputy. if true, that's a proper political earthquake in Germany that might trigger snap elections.

The first estimate for euro area (EA19) exports of goods to the rest of the world in April 2018 was €182.9 billion, an increase of 8.0% compared with April 2017 (€169.3 bn). Imports from the rest of the world stood at €166.2 bn, a rise of 8.1% compared with April 2017 (€153.7 bn). As a result, the euro area recorded a €16.7 bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in April 2018, compared with +€15.7 bn in April 2017. Intra-euro area trade rose to €157.4 bn in April 2018, up by 9.8% compared with April 2017.

In January to April 2018, euro area exports of goods to the rest of the world rose to €738.2 bn (an increase of 3.8% compared with January-April 2017), while imports rose to €673.8 bn (an increase of 3.2% compared with JanuaryApril 2017). As a result the euro area recorded a surplus of €64.4 bn, compared with +€58.7 bn in January-April 2017. Intra-euro area trade rose to €644.4 bn in January-April 2018, up by 5.7% compared with January-April 2017.

Euro area annual inflation rate was 1.9% in May 2018, up from 1.3% in April. A year earlier, the rate was 1.4%. European Union annual inflation was 2.0% in May 2018, up from 1.5% in April. A year earlier, the rate was 1.6%.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Ireland (0.7%) and Greece (0.8%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (4.6%) and Estonia (3.1%). Compared with April 2018, annual inflation fell in one Member State, remained stable in one and rose in twenty-six. In May 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+0.72 percentage points), followed by energy (+0.58 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.50 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.08 pp).

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.1772 (1058)

$1.1748 (348)

$1.1728 (276)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1564

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1509 (4124)

$1.1470 (4773)

$1.1428 (1970)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date July, 9 is 94109 contracts (according to data from June, 14) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1500 (4773);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.3472 (786)

$1.3421 (336)

$1.3364 (125)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3233

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3186 (2436)

$1.3152 (1850)

$1.3114 (874)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date July, 9 is 22434 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3650 (2462);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date July, 9 is 25393 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3250 (2436);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.13 versus 1.08 from the previous trading day according to data from June, 14.

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

"At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan decided upon the following.

(1) Yield curve control The Bank decided, by an 8-1 majority vote, to set the following guideline for market operations for the intermeeting period. The short-term policy interest rate: The Bank will apply a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 percent to the Policy-Rate Balances in current accounts held by financial institutions at the Bank. The long-term interest rate:

The Bank will purchase Japanese government bonds (JGBs) so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent. With regard to the amount of JGBs to be purchased, the Bank will conduct purchases at more or less the current pace -- an annual pace of increase in the amount outstanding of its JGB holdings of about 80 trillion yen -- aiming to achieve the target level of the long-term interest rate specified by the guideline.

(2) Guidelines for asset purchases With regard to asset purchases other than JGB purchases, the Bank decided, by a unanimous vote, to set the following guidelines.

a) The Bank will purchase exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Japan real estate investment trusts (J-REITs) so that their amounts outstanding will increase at annual paces of about 6 trillion yen and about 90 billion yen, respectively.

b) As for CP and corporate bonds, the Bank will maintain their amounts outstanding at about 2.2 trillion yen and about 3.2 trillion yen, respectively".

As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, the selling prices in wholesale trade increased by 2.9% in May 2018 from the corresponding month of the preceding year. In April 2018 and in March 2018 the annual rates of change were +1.4% and +1.2%, respectively.

From April 2018 to May 2018 the index rose by 0.8%.

Administration Official: Trump Expected To Direct "Pretty Significant Action" On Tariffs Against China Tariffs On China Expected To Affect Around $50 Billion In Chinese Goods