(Bloomberg 2/28/17)
The market odds of a March increase in US interest rates shot up to 80 per cent on Tuesday as Federal Reserve policymakers insisted they did not need to see Republican tax reforms and other policies before they act.

William Dudley, influential head of the New York Federal Reserve, said that the prospects for adding to the December 2016 rate increase had become “a lot more compelling”.

“It seems to me that most of the data we’ve seen over the last couple months is very much consistent with the economy continuing to grow at an above-trend pace, job gains remain pretty sturdy, inflation has actually drifted up a little bit as energy prices have increased,” he said in an interview with CNN.

(Bloomberg 2/14/17)
USTs Fall, Eurodollars Steepen, as Yellen Raises March Odds 10:12
Treasuries sharply lower in response to Yellen text which says “waiting too long to remove accommodation would be unwise,” and that further adjustment would likely be needed if economy is on track.
• 5s30s aggressively flattens in response, reaches 109.5bp, flattest since Jan. 20 and 1.7bp flatter on the day
• 10Y futures sell off around 12 ticks, reach 124-03, matching Feb. 3 lows
• Eurodollar strip bear steepens with whites lower by 1bp-3bp and greens, blues lower by 6bp
Fed fund futures based on April 2017 contract show about 34% chance of a rate hike at the March FOMC meeting vs 30% pre-testimony

(Bloomberg 2/9/17)
USTs Fall to Lows After Trump Promises Action on Taxes 10:16
Treasuries fall sharply to session lows led by 5Y after Trump says something will be announced on taxes in the next 2-3 weeks.
• 10Y futures contract moved 7 ticks to lows at 125-02; 65k traded over 5 minutes before 10am ET • Move coincides with advance for U.S. stocks and 50-pip surge in USD/JPY 50 to highest level since Jan. 3 Heavy Selling in Eurodollars as June Hike Odds Rise
Trading volume in Jun17 eurodollars jumped after Trump said something will be announced on taxes in the next 2-3 weeks; odds of Fed rate hike in June climbed to ~74% from 69% Wednesday.

(Bloomberg 2/14/17)
Italian bonds led gains in Europe after former Premier Matteo Renzi called a congress of his Democratic Party, reducing the chances of an early election in the nation.

Italy 10-year yields drop 3 basis points to 2.20 percent; analysts now look to early 2018 as most likely time for new elections; Italy-Germany 10y spread now tighter by around 10bps this week.

(UK Telegraph 1/17/17)

The pound has surged by the most against the dollar since the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum.

Smashing the $1.23 barrier against the dollar, the pound leapt 2.29pc to $1.2344, its biggest rise since July 12 last year when it jumped 2.41pc.

Theresa May's Brexit plan

Europe's bank index turns positive on May's comments on 'transition' deal

Europe's bank index has turned positive and is now up 0.3pc after Prime Minister Theresa May said the government will seek a transition for financial services regulations.

May will seek 'greatest possible access' to EU

May has said she will pursue a "bold and ambitious" free trade agreement.

"What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the EU single market," she said.

"Being out of the EU but a member of the single market would mean being subject to rules without a say in them. Staying in the EU would mean not leaving the EU at all."

Instead, the Prime Minister, will seek the "greatest possible access" to the EU.

(Bloomberg 12/1/16) Oil traded above $50 and crude producers rose after OPEC approved its first supply cuts in eight years, with the focus now shifting to how strictly the group will implement the deal. Futures advanced 2.6 percent in New York. Prices surged 9.3 percent Wednesday, the largest gain since February amid record volumes. OPEC agreed to reduce collective production by 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million and Russia pledged a cut of 300,000.

(Bloomberg 11/3/16) Brent Rebounds Above $47 After String of Declines
-- Brent, WTI gained, stemming the longest run of declines since Sept. as market seen as underestimating prospects of an OPEC production deal. Dec. WTI +23c at $45.57/bbl at 9:03am ET, rising 1st time in 5 days

(FT 10/30/16) China’s central bank kicked off the week by strengthening the midpoint of the renminbi’s trading band against the dollar by the most in more than a week.

The People’s Bank of China set the fix around which the currency can trade 2 per cent against the dollar in either direction stronger by 0.32 per cent on Monday at Rmb6.76410.

That was the largest strengthening of the fix since Friday 21 October and follows a week that saw the midpoint move weaker overall by a 0.44 percentage points to 6.7850.

(Bloomberg 2/16/17)
Sharp Jump in Italian, Spanish Bonds on ECB Capital Key Comments 07:40
Italian and Spain 10-year yields drop around 5bps, with smaller drop in France, after ECB meeting minutes show “limited and temporary deviations” from the capital key “were possible and inevitable”.
• The gains in these countries are due to their larger overall outstanding debt, as deviations from capital key suggests the ECB may end up buying a more bonds from these countries
• Bonds rallied sharply, before paring some advances

(Bloomberg 9/18/16) OPEC agreed to the outline of a deal that
will cut production for the first time in eight years,
Oil jumped more than 5 percent in New York after ministers
said the group agreed to limit production to a range of 32.5 to
33 million barrels a day.

The agreement was possible because Iran will be exempt from
capping production, a major concession by Saudi Arabia, the
group’s dominant producer. Still, many of the details remain to
be worked out and the group won’t decide on targets for each
country until its next meeting at the end of November.

(Bloomberg 7/11/16) -- The yen tumbled the most since April as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he planned to add fiscal stimulus following the ruling party’s victory in Sunday’s upper-house elections.

(FT 7/11/16)
The broad Topix benchmark ended 3.8 per cent higher for its biggest one-day rise since February 15 and its third-largest advance so far this year. The Nikkei 225 closed 4 per cent higher for its biggest one-day gain since March 2 and its fourth-largest rise this year.

(FT 8/28/16) European bond yields crept higher and stocks across the continent slipped in trading thinned by a holiday in the UK, as investors digested the message delivered late last week by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that the case for rise in the central bank’s key short-term interest rate has strengthened.

The remarks delivered by Ms Yellen at a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, have been enough to pull higher the probability traders attach to policymakers lifting borrowing costs when they meet next month to 42 per cent, up from below 30 per cent before she spoke late on Friday.

(Bloomberg 6/24/16)
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 7 percent at the close of trading, joining a global market selloff as 52 percent of U.K. voters opted to leave the European Union and Prime Minister David Cameron resigned. The FTSE 100 Index fell 3.2 percent, trimming a slump of as much as 8.7 percent as exporters gained amid a plunge in the pound to 30-Year Low as U.K. Stocks Slide on Brexit Sterling slumps below $1.35, weakening as much as 11%.Treasuries surged, pushing benchmark yields down the most in seven years, as Britain’s surprise vote to leave the European Union drove a rush for the safest assets.

(Bloomberg 6/3/16) Saudi Arabia ordered banks in the kingdom to stop selling
some products that allow speculators to bet against its currency peg just days
after demanding information from lenders on the offerings, according to people
with knowledge of the matter.

The Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency sent a circular to banks this week saying
that dollar-riyal forward structured contracts are banned with immediate
effect, said the people, asking not to be identified because they are not
authorized to comment publicly. Forward foreign-currency transactions backed
by actual goods and services will still be allowed, the people said.

(Bloomberg 5/17/16)--"Two-year notes fell, pushing yields to the highest since April, as comments by Federal Reserve officials and gains in inflation bolstered speculation the central bank will raise interest rates this year.

Yields rose as San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said two or three rate increases are possible in 2016, and after data showed the cost of living in the U.S. climbed by the most in three years. Futures traders added to wagers that the Fed will lift interest rates as soon as next month.

The market-implied probability of a rate increase in June is 14 percent, up from 4 percent Monday, according to futures data compiled by Bloomberg. It rises to about 65 percent for a move by year-end, up from 56 percent a day earlier. The calculation assumes the effective fed funds rate will average 0.625 percent after the central bank’s next increase."

(Bloomberg 5/18/16) -- "After FOMC minutes indicating most officials saw June hike as appropriate if economy continued to improve, probability of a June hike rose to 28% from 14%; hike first priced at more than likely remains Sept.
July hike priced at 42%"

(Bloomberg 4/7/16)
Oil reversed losses amid speculation about whether an accord can be reached at a meeting between OPEC members and Russia on freezing oil production.

Futures rose as much as 1.2 percent in New York after slipping 1.3 percent Thursday. The meeting is set to take place April 17 in Doha to discuss freezing output to stabilize the markets. Saudi Arabia has said it will only agree if it’s joined by other suppliers including Iran, while Kuwait said a deal can be done without Iran’s support.

(FT 3/16/16)

Alexander Novak, Russia’s energy minister, said on Monday after talks in Tehran that Iran had the right to boost output after years of restrictions against its oil industry.
“Producers agree Iran’s exports will remain gradual and lower than expectation,” said one Gulf Opec delegate.

Some of the world’s biggest oil producing countries will meet in Doha next month to discuss a freeze in output, Qatar’s energy minister said on Wednesday.
Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, also president of the Opec producers’ group, said in a statement that the April 17 gathering of ministers “comes as a follow-up to the meeting that was held last month in Doha”.

A provisional deal has helped to support prices, up 20 per cent in the past month alone. On Wednesday the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 59 cents to $39.33 a barrel by 11am in London.

(FT 2/12/2016) -- Oil prices rose by more than $2 a barrel on Friday in volatile trading.

Brent, the global benchmark, increased $2.49 a barrel to $32.56 while West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, jumped $2.92 a barrel to $29.15 in afternoon trading.

Market chatter and comments from the UAE oil minister pointed toward potential collaboration on production cuts between Opec and non-Opec producers, which helped to buoy markets.

(Bloomberg 2/15/16) -- "China’s yuan surged by the most in more than a decade, catching up with dollar declines during a week-long holiday, after the central bank chief voiced support for the exchange rate and set its fixing at a one-month high. The currency advanced 0.9 percent, the most since the nation scrapped a peg to the dollar in July 2005, to 6.5170 a dollar as of 10:50AM in Shanghai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The offshore yuan fell 0.16 percent to 6.5186 to almost match the onshore rate, compared with a 1 percent premium last week when mainland Chinese markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holidays."

(Bloomberg 1/29/16) -- "Stocks and bonds rallied around the world as the Bank of Japan unexpectedly stepped up monetary stimulus, joining other central banks responding to this month’s financial-market turmoil. The yen tumbled 1.7 percent versus the dollar, its biggest loss since December 2014. Against the euro, it dropped 1.6 percent.Japan’s 10-year bond yield touched 0.09 percent. Treasury 10-year note yields fell four basis points to 1.94 percent, while those on similar-maturity U.K. gilts dropped five basis points to 1.62 percent."