Abu Dhabi Airports report strong growth

Abu Dhabi Airports welcomed 22.4mn visitors in 2023, marking y/y growth of 27.8%. In terms of arrivals, the largest share of travellers came from the Indian subcontinent at 3.2mn, followed by Western Europe (1.9mn), Asia (1.7mn), and GCC countries (1.6mn). The transport & storage sector was one of the fastest growing in Abu Dhabi in 2023, recording an expansion of 17.1% in national accounts data, second only to financial services.

German factory orders fell 1.6% m/m in May, falling well short of the predicted 0.5% growth even as the April figure was revised to a greater contraction of 0.6% from the initial print of a 0.2% fall. This marked the fifth month in a row that orders had fallen, with the y/y measure down 8.6%.

US markets were closed yesterday, but markets will be looking ahead to the NFP report due out later today which could show further signs of a softening labour market following on from the JOLTS and ADP figures released earlier this week. In the UK, the Labour Party looks set to form a new government as it leads the incumbent Conservatives on the exit polls and on the results counted so far.

Today’s Economic Data and Events

16:30 US nonfarm payrolls, June. Forecast: 190,000

16:30 US unemployment rate, June. Forecast: 4.0%

16:30 Canada unemployment rate, June. Forecast: 6.3%

Fixed Income

• US treasuries were not trading yesterday. In the UK, gilts sold off marginally yesterday with yields on both the 2yr and 10yr ticking up by 2bps to 4.191% and 4.197% respectively.

FX

• The dollar index lost ground against its basket of peers yesterday, falling 0.3%. The gains were widespread as GBP closed up 0.1% at 1.2760, while EUR climbed 0.2% to 1.0812.

• The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar, gaining 0.3% to 161.28, coming off its lowest level since 1989, although it appears there were no decisive moves from the BoJ over the US holiday.

Equities

• Asian equity markets were mixed yesterday but most followed Wall Street’s move higher the previous day. The Hang Seng added 0.3% while the Nikkei climbed 0.8%, supported by ongoing yen weakness. By contrast, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.8% on the day.

• Positivity continued in Europe, despite the weak factor orders data from Germany. The DAX gained 0.4% while the CAC added 0.8%, with the second round of voting in focus in France this weekend. The UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.9% as elections took place yesterday.

• Locally, the DFM fell 0.3% while the ADX added 0.4%. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul closed up 0.6% on the last day of its trading week.

Commodities

• Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to USD 87.4/b yesterday, but trading was muted with the US markets closed, and WTI was not traded.