Daily summary: Global stocks push higher after promising vaccine study

• Moderna (MRNA.US) coronavirus vaccine shows 'promising' results
• President Trump signed Hong Kong sanctions bill
• S&P 500 hit four-month high

European indices finished today’s session higher after results from Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.US) early trial showed that its experimental drug had produced immune responses in all 45 healthy patients. During today’s session DAX gained  1.8% - reaching the highest level since February 24th, CAC 40 added 2.0% and FTSE 100 finished 1.8% higher.

US indices  traded mostly higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones rose more than 100 points and the S&P 500 jumped to its highest level in  four months. However, the Nasdaq fell back into the red led by a slump in tech shares.  Strong quarterly results posted by Goldman Sachs (GS.US), UnitedHealth (UNH.US) and US Bancorp (BXS.US) and positive economic data  lifted market sentiment. US industrial sector grew more than expected in June as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. These news completely overshadowed the fact that the US reported a record number of 67 000 new infections yesterday. Also tensions between US and China increased after President Trump signed into law a bill to impose sanctions on Chinese officials in retaliation to the Hong Kong security law. Trump also shut the door on "Phase 2" trade negotiations with Beijing.

Bank of Canada left its interest rate unchanged at the effective lower bound of 0.25%, in line with market expectations. BoC pledged to continue its quantitative easing program with large-scale asset purchases of at least CAD 5 billion per week of government bonds.

Oil prices rose over 1% on Wednesday, supported by a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories. US crude stocks declined by 7.493 million barrels well above analysts expectations of a 2.098 million decrease, according to the EIA Petroleum Status Report. It is the biggest decline in crude inventories since  December 2019. However gains were limited as OPEC announced that is ready to ease supply curbs from August. OPEC and its allies, have been reducing production since May by 9.7 million bpd, which accounts for 10% of global supply, due to the ongoing pandemic. From the next month, production cuts will amount to 7.7 million bpd until December.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ was moving to the next phase of its oil cut pact when the group is expected to ease their reductions as oil demand recovers. 

Gold prices stayed firmly above the key $1,800 level, as rising geopolitical tensions lifted demand for the safe-haven metal, however a strong performance of the global stock  markets limited its advance.

There is quite a lot of data scheduled for release tomorrow. China GDP figures and Australia unemployment data will be the key release of the Asian session while UK Jobless Claims Change and unemployment  data will be on watch during European trading hours. Most of all investors are looking forward to tomorrow’s ECB monetary policy meeting and an EU summit later this week as European leaders will be discussing the €750 billion common recovery plan and the bloc's long-term budget. During the US trading hours, attention will be paid to the US retails sales data and Weekly jobless claims figures. On the earnings front Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US), Netflix Inc. (NFLX.US), Bank of America Corp. (BAC.US), Morgan Stanley (MS.US), Domino's Pizza Inc. (DPZ.US) will report their quarterly results.

USDCAD - Canadian dollar is one of the best performers among major currencies. Currency pair broke below the 200 MA (redline) after Bank of Canada’s left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the effective lower bound of 0.25% and said that it will continue its quantitative easing program. Should downbeat moods prevail, support at 1.3490 may come into play. If this level is broken, then the next target for sellers is located at 1.3328 level. Source: xStation5