• European bourses are firmer across the board continuing the MSFT & GOOG driven early APAC action amidst numerous European earnings
• US futures are firmer across the board though the NQ +1.4% outperforms amid those after-market developments though participants are looking to the FOMC
• Dutch TTF Aug’22 is the standout commodity mover, amid a reduction in physical flows through Nord Stream 1; thus far, TTF has printed a high of EUR 228/mWh.
• FX has the USD edging off with Cable nearing 1.21 at best while EUR/USD eyes noted OpEx
• Choppy performance for core debt while BTPs underperformed after S&P's revision
• US President Biden will speak to Chinese President Xi on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
• Looking ahead, highlights include US Durable Goods, FOMC announcement and Chair Powell's press conference. Earnings: Meta, T-Mobile, Boeing, and more.

As of 11:20BST/06:20ET

LOOKING AHEAD

• US Durable Goods, FOMC announcement and Chair Powell's press conference.
• Earnings from Meta, T-Mobile, Boeing, and more.
• Click here for the Week Ahead preview

GEOPOLITICS

• US President Biden will speak to Chinese President Xi on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
• US House Speaker Pelosi to visit Japan in August, according to sources via Kyodo News.

NORD STREAM 1

• Physical flows via Nord Stream 1 pipeline have fallen to 14.42mln KWH/H between 0900-1000BST (vs. 14.41mln KWH/H between 0800-0900BST; 27.77mln kWh/H between 05:00-06:00BST)
• Since 07:00BST on Wednesday, 1.28MCM/hr, or circa. 20% of Nord Stream 1 maximum capacity has been transported in accordance with nominations, via Reuters citing Gascade.
• Gazprom continues shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine, Wednesday's volume is 42.2MCM (vs Monday's 41.9MCM); Gazprom has informed Eni (ENI IM) that gas volumes of approx. 27MCM will be delivered on Wednesday, vs deliveries of 34MCM in recent days; Uniper (UN01 GY) says they are currently receiving 20% of nominated gas volumes from Gazprom.
• Russian Kremlin says Gazprom is supplying as much gas to Europe as possible, cannot guarantee supplies if foreign equipment cannot be serviced due to sanctions

EUROPEAN TRADE

CENTRAL BANKS

• Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs have revised their August RBA calls to a 50bps hike (prev. 75bps hike) following the Australian Q2 CPI metrics.

EQUITIES

• European bourses are firmer across the board continuing the MSFT & GOOG driven early APAC action amidst numerous European earnings; Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%.
• US futures are firmer across the board though the NQ +1.4% outperforms amid those after-market developments though participants are looking to the FOMC.
• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Q2 2022 (USD): EPS 1.21 (exp. 1.29), Revenue 69.70bln (exp. 70.04bln).Google advertising 56.29bln, (exp. 55.91bln). CFO said FX impact to be even greater in the current Q, according to CNBC. (Newswires/CNBC) +3.5% in the pre-market
• Microsoft Corp (MSFT) Q4 2022 (USD): EPS 2.23 (exp. 2.29/2.29 GAAP), Revenue 51.9bln (exp. 52.45bln). Intelligent Cloud revenue 20.91bln (exp. 21.07bln). Guides FY23 revenue double digits sales growth, FY23 FX impact of 4-points decrease in revenue growth, via its conference call. (Newswires) +3.8% in the pre-market
• Visa Inc (V) Q3 2022 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.98 (exp. 1.74/1.73 GAAP), Revenue 7.3bln (exp. 7.06bln). (Newswires) Co. seeing no evidence of a pullback in consumer spending. Unch. in the pre-market
• PayPal (PYPL) - Activist Investor Elliot Management reportedly holds a stake in PayPal, size unknown, according to WSJ citing sources. (WSJ)
• Twitter (TWTR) said it significantly slowed hiring in Q2 2022; in 2021 and H1 2022, macro factors had a negative impact on, and may negative impact in future periods, such as advertising revenue. Twitter is to hold shareholder vote on Musk deal on September 13th at 18:00BEST/13:00EDT, according to CNBC. (Newswires/CNBC)
• Click here for more detail.

FX

• Buck backs off before the Fed and US data in the lead up, DXY slips into range around 107.000 and just shy of yesterday's 107.290 recovery high.
• Sterling secures firmer foothold above 1.2000 vs Dollar and maintains momentum through key technical level against Euro, EUR/GBP cross probes 0.8400 after breach of 200 DMA.
• EUR/USD retains 1.0100+ status as Greenback wanes and hefty option expiry interest supplements underlying bids, 1.84bln rolls off at the strike.
• Aussie sags as mixed inflation data sparks round of revised RBA hike forecasts from 75bp to half point, AUD/USD around 0.6950 following test of Fib resistance just under 0.7000 on Tuesday.
• Loonie pares losses as crude prices settle down and Nokkie makes clean break of 10.0000 vs Euro, USD/CAD closer to 1.2850 than 1.2900.
• Click here for more detail.

Notable FX Expiries, NY Cut:

• EUR/USD: 1.0000 (1.18BN), 1.0100 (1.84BN), 1.0125 (650M), 1.0150 (497M), 1.0200-10 (1.63BN), 1.0250-55 (2.13BN), 1.0270 (532M), 1.0300 (1.06BN)
• Click here for more detail.

FIXED INCOME

• Whip-saw trade in debt ahead of the Fed as Bunds veer from 156.07 to 155.36, Gilts between 117.67-12 parameters and T-note within a 113-31/119-19+ range
• 2032 German tap and 2051 UK linker sale sluggish
• Italian BTPs underperform amidst the political void and S&P revising the sovereign's outlook to stable from positive after interim ratings review
• Click here for more detail.

COMMODITIES

• Dutch TTF Aug’22 is the standout commodity mover, amid a reduction in physical flows through Nord Stream 1; thus far, TTF has printed a high of EUR 228/mWh.
• Crude benchmarks modestly firmer, but significantly more contained.
• NEC Director Deese said there are no plans to continue SPR releases beyond the originally set out 6mth period, according to Reuters.
• US Private Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -4.0mln (exp. -1mln), Distillates -0.6mln (exp. +0.5mln), Gasoline -1.1mln (exp. -0.9mln), Cushing +1.1mln.
• US Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo met with European counterparts to discuss a price cap on Russian oil.
• Chinese National Energy Administration expects energy consumptions growth to increase in H2, via Reuters.
• Spot gold has staged a recovery on the session from earlier lows of USD 1713/oz; however, the yellow metal remains well within recent ranges and continues to move predominantly as a function of USD action.
• Click here for more detail.

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• UK PM-candidate Sunak has pledged to cut VAT on energy bills in a change of strategy, according to The Times.

DATA RECAP:

• UK BRC Shop Price Index YY (Jul) 4.4% (Prev. 3.1%).
• German GfK Consumer Sentiment (Aug) -30.6 vs. Exp. -28.9 (Prev. -27.4, Rev. -27.7)

APAC TRADE

• APAC stocks eventually traded mixed following a mostly subdued session, but within narrow intraday ranges.
• ASX 200 moved between gains and losses with the Healthcare sector leading the gains whilst Metals & Mining lagged.
• Nikkei 225 was similarly contained whilst Canon shares fell as much as 3% post-earnings.
• KOSPI declined with Apple-supplier SK Hynix warning of a slowing in memory chip demand in H2.
• Hang Seng underperformed with Alibaba retracing yesterday's gains whilst the property sector was also hit.
• Shanghai Comp was caged following another modest net liquidity drain by the PBoC, whilst multiple sources suggested the Biden-Xi call is to take place on Thursday.

NOTABLE APAC HEADLINES

• Hong Kong will have no choice but to raise interest rates, although the pace or scale need not follow US hikes and it is unlikely to trigger the kind of property market crisis seen in 1998, according to SCMP citing the Hong Kong Financial Secretary.
• Magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits Philippines region of Luzon, according to ESMC; no tsunami warnings issue, according to Reuters.
• China overnight rate fell below 1% for the first time since last year, according to Bloomberg.
• PBoC injected CNY 2bln via 7-day reverse repos with the maintained rate of 2.10% for a net drain of CNY 1bln.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.6.7731 vs exp. 6.7680 (prev. 6. 7483); weakest fix since May 17th.
• China locked down almost 1 million residents Wuhan city's Jiangxia district, according to Bloomberg.

DATA RECAP

• Chinese Industrial profit YY (Jun) +3.9% (Prev. -6.50%); YTD (Jun) 1.00% (Prev. 1.00%)
• Australian CPI QQ (Q2) 1.8% vs. Exp. 1.9% (Prev. 2.1%); YY (Q2) 6.1% vs. Exp. 6.2% (Prev. 5.1%)
• Australian RBA Weighted Median CPI QQ (Q2) 1.4% vs. Exp. 1.4% (Prev. 1.0%); YY (Q2) 4.2% vs. Exp. 4.3% (Prev. 3.2%)
• Australian RBA Trimmed Mean CPI QQ (Q2) 1.5% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. 1.4%); YY (Q2) 4.9% vs. Exp. 4.7% (Prev. 3.7%)