Morning wrap (15.07.2021)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading mixed. S&P 500 gained 0.12%, Dow Jones moved 0.13% higher, Nasdaq dropped 0.22% and Russell 2000 slumped 1.63%

• Mixed moods can be spotted in Asia as well. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 moved lower while Kospi and indices from China gained

• DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European session

• Reuters reported US-Iran nuclear talks may not be resumed until middle of August

• World Bank projects GDP growth in East Asia and Pacific (excluding China) to reached 4% this year while GDP growth for the whole region (including China) is expected at 7.7% 

• Chinese GDP increased by 1.3% QoQ in Q2 2021 (exp. 1.2% QoQ). On a year-over-year basis GDP growth stood at 7.9% (exp. 8.1% YoY)

• Chinese industrial production increased 8.3% YoY in June (exp. 7.9% YoY), retail sales were 12.1% YoY higher (exp. 11% YoY) while urban investments rose 12.6% YoY (exp. 12.5% YoY)

• Australian employment increased by 29.1k in June (exp. 29.7k). Unemployment rate dropped from 5.1% to 4.9% (exp. 5%)

• Bitcoin trades near $32,500 mark

• Precious metals trade higher, oil pulls back, industrial metals advance and agricultural goods trade mixed

• CHF and JPY are the best performing major currencies while NZD and AUD lag the most

CHNComp index trades higher today, supported by the release of solid data from China. Index continues to recover following a test of the lower limit of the downward channel. Near-term resistance zone can be found ranging above the 10,350 pts handle. Source: xStation5