Market News

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pressing China to use its leverage against Iran over Tehran's actions in the Persian Gulf.

In a Fox interview Rubio said he hopes to convince China to play a more active role in trying to convince Iran to walk away from what they are doing in the Gulf.

Trump is desperate to find a way out of the disaster.

There isn't much on the data agenda to shift around financial markets too much upon release.

Trump is in China so no doubt we'll get some headlines, 'BIG NEWS coming!", you know the sort of thing, Followed by a nothingburger. Perhaps the "outline of a concept of a plan" ... again, you know the sort of thing.

UK PM Starmer is saying:

• Has made it clear to allies that he will stand and fight if Wes Streeting to succeed in triggering a leadership contest.

Starmer and Streeting met this morning in what was dubbed "showdown," though Streeting spent less than 20 minutes in Downing Street. The meeting lasted just 16 minutes, and when asked about it, the PM's spokesman declined to reveal details, stating only that "the prime minister has full confidence in the health secretary." According to The Times, Streeting was expected to discuss the "turbulence" gripping the party and how Starmer would "get us out of this mess."

The meeting comes after Labour descended into open division over the prime minister's future, with four ministers resigning and at least…

Headlines:

• USD/JPY nudges back up towards 158.00 mark as dollar holds firmer on the week
• Gold continues to consolidate amid prolonged US-Iran stalemate, hawkish Fed risk
• ECB's Villeroy: We don't have enough information on core inflation yet
• ECB's Muller: The ECB will need a fast resolution on Hormuz to hold in June
• ECB's Rehn: Monetary policy should not be based on oil prices alone
• French headline inflation surges in April as energy prices accelerate
• Germany wholesale prices push higher in April as Middle East conflict reverberates
• Eurozone Q1 GDP second estimate +0.1% vs +0.1% q/q prelim

Markets:

• WTI crude down 0.4% to $101.75, keeps above the $100 mark
• European stocks more mixed; DAX up 0.8%, CAC 40 down 0.3%
• US futures steady with S&P 500 futures…

Ever since COVID, the media has been quick to jump on any new disease outbreak, trying to catch the beginning of the next global pandemic. In 2024, the bets were on a mutated monkeypox virus, following a rise in infections and deaths. Some governments even floated the idea of closing airports to prevent the virus from crossing borders.

Fortunately, things never came close to the scale of COVID, so no global lockdowns were needed. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq barely even blinked, largely because the world already had an effective vaccine against mpox — JYNNEOS, the first FDA-approved vaccine from the Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic, whose shares jumped more than 30% in just a few days due to the surge in demand.

Now, two years later, panic…

• Prior month 0.5% MoM and 4.0% YoY
• Prior month ex food and energy 0.1% MoM and 3.8% YoY
• PPI MoM 1.4% versus 0.5% estimate
• PPI YoY 6.0% versus 4.9% estimate
• PPI ex food and energy MoM 1.0% vs 0.3% estimate.Highest since March of 2022.
• PPI ex food and energy YoY 5.2% vs 4.3% estimate
• PPI ex food, energy and trade MM +0.6% vs +0.2% last month
• PPI ex food, energy and trade YoY 4.4% vs 3.6% last month
• Services inflation was up 2.5%

The two year yield has moved above the 4% level to 4.010% 1.5 basis points. The 10 year yield is up 1.7 basis points at 4.488%. Both were mostly lower at the start of the North American session.

The S&P index is trading down -1.71 points in premarket trading. It was up about 21 points at the start of the North American…

• Prior +0.3%; revised to +0.2%

There was a negative revision to the Q4 estimate, and that's the only minor tweak to the preliminary report. Other than that, this just reaffirms that the euro area economy did post marginal growth in the first quarter of the year.

After a more resilient showing to start the new year, things are taking a turn now as higher energy prices are dampening economic sentiment in March and April. And that is likely to persist further deeper into Q2 as higher oil and gas prices start to become more embedded into other parts of the economy.

Of note, household sentiment is one that is likely to see the biggest knock. And in turn, that will weigh on consumption activity with overall business activity also likely to suffer…

•  Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.77%, Shanghai Composite up 0.09% Hang Seng up 0.27% ASX down 0.48%
• Commodities : Gold at $4,709.95 (0.47%) Silver at $87.405 (2.10%), Brent Oil at $106.46 (-1.22%), WTI Oil at $100.89 (-1.27%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.459, UK 10-year yield at 5.1040, Germany 10-year yield at 3.0966

• (USD) Core CPI m/m  0.4%  to 0.3%   expected

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday as investors assessed a hotter-than-expected April inflation reading alongside concerns over rising oil prices and ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

Investor sentiment remained cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump described the month-old ceasefire…

IC Markets Global – Europe Fundamental Forecast | 13 May 2026

What happened in the Asia session?

Uncertainty around the Iran conflict and a fragile ceasefire dominated Asia-session headlines, keeping oil and energy-linked assets volatile and causing risk-off flows that pressured Asian equities and commodity FX; at the same time, the RBNZ’s quarterly Survey of Inflation Expectations (released today) and routine May datapoints from China/Australia/New Zealand kept NZD, local rates, and commodity-sensitive currencies under the microscope, while safe havens (USD, JPY, gold) benefited from the risk repricing.

What does it mean for the Europe & US sessions?

Fresh US inflation/producer‑price signals and any Eurozone data or ECB commentary that…

Stocks Fall as Inflation Rises and Tensions Escalate – Nasdaq down 0.7%

US equity markets finished mixed overnight as investors reacted to another stronger-than-expected US inflation print. Technology stocks led the declines, dragging the Nasdaq down 0.71% to 26,088, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.16% to close at 7,400. The Dow Jones managed to edge 0.11% higher to 49,760 as defensive sectors outperformed in cautious trade. US Treasury yields moved sharply higher following the data, with the 2-year yield rising 3.8 basis points to 3.992% and the benchmark 10-year yield climbing 5 basis points to 4.463%. The move in yields helped push the US dollar broadly stronger, with the DXY gaining 0.36% to 98.31. Geopolitical concerns also remained…