Markets Overview: (Source: Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, DJ Newswires)

UK 100 Index called to open +5pts at 6815 having picked up a trend of rising lows since last Friday. 6820 and 6830 are the initial hurdles to the upside, with bulls looking for the breakout this morning with stop losses placed at the 50-hour moving average. A break below that would bring bears into play to ride declines towards 6740. Watch Levels: Bullish 6835, Bearish 6770.

A tepid opening call comes as a mildly positive Asian session draws to a close, helped out by the stronger US Dollar with the region’s data releases coming in mixed. Chinese inflation has slowed to 1.8% (YoY) in July, as expected, while the pace of wholesale deflation also slowed. Net neutral. On the other hand, Australia’s economy will be worrying those that are invested there with NAB business conditions slumping in July, while the weekly consumer confidence print plumbed a 9-week low.

US driving season has finally kicked off, metaphorically speaking, with equity markets there being driven around by the price of oil. A slightly lower close for the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq came amid a resurgence of chat about production freezes, always to be expected when the price of oil gets a bit low. It remains to be seen whether that’s just hot air. If it is, then we can expect more moves of 2% or more in crude prices as verbal blows get traded between opposing OPEC spokesmen.

Gold is heading for a 3rd straight day of declines in Asian trade due to a stronger USD and increased rate hike expectations. That trend likely to continue in European and US trade today. However, will the Fed really hike twice in 2016? And will it do it in September given that Europe, the UK and Japan are heading in the opposite direction? Probably not.

The big data print today is the UK’s Industrial Production and Balance of Trade, although all are June prints and thus will not give any indication of how Brexit has affected things. That said, Brexit hasn’t even happened yet.

US Retail Sales around Lunchtime are seen declining more slowly, which will surely be pounced upon by Fed hawks. Wholesale inventories at 3pm are seen flat, indicating a spot of Goldilocks-style nonchalance among US wholesalers.

The UK’s NIESR GDP estimate for July is also out at 3pm with a pullback to 0.4% expected (an estimate of an estimate…) Again, July too soon to gauge the effect of the Brexit vote.

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UK Company Headlines: (Source: Reuters/DJ Newswires)

• Amec Foster posts H1 loss hit by charges
• Old Mutual to sell Italian wealth arm to Cinven for 278 mln euros
• Boohoo.com sees FY sales growth of 28 – 33 pct
• Synthomer H1 revenue fell 1.8 percent to 446.2 million stg
• IP Group says H1 adjusted loss before tax of 31.1 mln stg
• AstraZeneca drug selumetinib fails in lung cancer study
• Worldpay H1 profit beats estimates, to pay first dividend
• Ocado sees Morrisons deal to be earnings accretive
• Smiths Group sees FY rev, profit above expectations
• Legal & General sees 10 pct rise in H1 operating profit
• Highland Gold total Q2 production of gold and gold equivalent up 12 pct YoY
• Standard Life posts forecast – beating rise in H1 assets, eyes cost – cuts