UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed starts an official two-day visit to Korea today, which will be followed by a state visit to China. The trip is aimed at boosting trade ties as well as technology transfers to boost the manufacturing and clean energy sectors in the UAE. Korea and the GCC signed a free trade agreement at the end of last year, and an FTA with China has been under negotiation for several years. Korean firms have built the UAE’s four nuclear reactors at the Barakah Power Plant, and another four reactors are currently in planning stages.
With both US and UK markets closed for holidays, there was little in the way of data releases yesterday. ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that the ECB should not rule out cuts in both the June and July meetings, pushing back against other policy makers who indicated that the ECB would not necessarily cut at successive meetings, even if they started easing monetary policy next month. Wage growth in the eurozone did not ease as much as expected in Q1, according to the latest data, and some policy makers may be reluctant to get too far ahead of the Fed.
Germany’s IFO business climate index came in slightly lower than forecast for May but was unchanged from April at 89.3. However the expectations component of the survey rose for the fourth consecutive month to 90.4 from 89.7 in April and a low of 83.4 in January.
Today’s Economic Data and Events
18:00 US Conference Board Consumer Confidence (May) forecast 96.0 prev 97.0
18:30 US Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity (May) forecast -12.5 prev -14.5
Fixed Income
FX
Equities
Commodities