Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow fell 6 points to 15,420, the Nasdaq rose 10 points at
3,670 and the S&P500 lost 2 points at 1,689.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently up 218 points at 13,737 and the Hang Seng
ahead 161 points at 22,432.

WTI crude oil traded at $106.11 a barrel and Brent crude at $108.97.

Gold settled at $1,334 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

Bloomberg Top Headlines

Marketwatch

Nikkei rebounds 2.6 pct on corporate tax cut report, weaker yen

Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:08am BST
TOKYO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
bounced back on Tuesday as the yen weakened against the dollar
after a media report that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is
considering a corporate tax cut to help offset the impact of a
planned two-stage hike in the sales tax.

The benchmark Nikkei rose 2.6 percent to 13,867.00
and the broader Topix gained 2 percent to 1,157.15 in
very thin trade.

Index heavyweights and blue-chip exporters led the gains,
with SoftBank Corp and Fast Retailing Co Ltd
up 6.3 percent and 4.3 percent, and Panasonic Corp
climbing 3.8 percent.

Morning Grandad -):

Thanks Stan :-)

European Factors to Watch-Shares seen up for 4th day, data in focus

Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:29am BST
LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - European shares were set to rise for a fourth
straight session on Tuesday, tracking gains in Asia, on expectations that more
U.S. and European data will show a quickening in the pace of economic recovery.

The euro zone's industrial output data for June is likely to have risen 0.8
percent from the previous month, while Germany's ZEW economic sentiment index
for August is forecast at 40.0, from 36.3 previously. The numbers are due at
0900 GMT.

In the United States, retail sales data for July will be released at 1230
GMT. Economists expect a 0.3 percent rise, compared with a 0.4 percent gain in
June. Excluding autos, sales are seen up 0.4 percent, versus an unchanged
reading in June.

"With the U.S., European and UK economies all strengthening, the outlook for
European equities remains excellent," Daniel McCormack, strategist with
Macquarie, said, adding investors will also focus on company earnings for
near-term direction.

"After roughly three years of steady earnings erosion, we think we will see
earnings upgrades for Europe later in 2013 and earnings in 2014 are likely to
grow."

The second-quarter reporting season is drawing to a close, with nearly
four-fifths of the STOXX Europe 600 companies which have already
announced results, of which 56 have met or beaten forecasts.

On Tuesday, Germany's top utility E.ON posted a 15 percent drop
in first-half core earnings, hurt by plunging wholesale power prices and a boom
in renewables, while German potash maker K+S reported its
second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest and tax fell 25.7 percent to
162.6 million euros.

European shares were expected to trade near their recent 2-1/2-month highs
on Tuesday. At 0623 GMT, futures for the Euro STOXX 50, Britain's FTSE
100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC were 0.3 to 0.5
percent higher.

In Asia, The MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan rose 1.2 percent,
while Japan's Nikkei was up 2.6 percent after a report said Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe was considering a corporate tax cut to help offset the
impact of a planned two-stage increase in the sales tax.

In the bonds market, German Bund futures opened 33 ticks lower at
141.90 on expectations that upcoming data will show an improvement in the euro
zone's economic outlook.

FTSE100 starts firmly higher with strong miners a feature

GBP CPI y/y 2.8% 2.8% 2.9%

GBP PPI Input m/m 1.1% 1.2% 0.2%

GBP RPI y/y 3.1% 3.1% 3.3%

GBP Core CPI y/y 2.0% 2.3% 2.3%

GBP HPI y/y 3.1% 3.6% 2.9%

GBP PPI Output m/m 0.2% 0.3% 0.1%

EUR German ZEW Economic Sentiment 42.0 40.3 36.3

EUR ndustrial Production m/m 0.7% 1.1% -0.2%

EUR ZEW Economic Sentiment 44.0 37.4 32.8

House price inflation jumps to 2006 levels -RICS

(Reuters) - House prices are rising at their fastest pace in seven years, according to an industry survey on Tuesday which may add to concerns that government lending incentives are creating a new property bubble.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' seasonally adjusted house price balance jumped to +36 in July from +21 in June and just +5 in May. That was the best reading since November 2006 and one of the sharpest improvements over a three-month period since the survey began in 1978.

The survey chimes with data from mortgage lenders showing returning confidence in the property market. Halifax last week reported annual house price inflation jumped to 4.6 percent in the three months to July and was likely to rise further in the coming months.

FTSE 100 remains firmly higher in midday trade....

USD Core Retail Sales m/m 0.5% 0.4% 0.1%

USD Retail Sales m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.6%

USD Import Prices m/m 0.2% 0.9% -0.4%

USD Business Inventories m/m 0.0% 0.3% 0.1%

FTSE100 ends comfortably higher on mining strength