Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 16 points to 14,841, the Nasdaq Composite added
27 points at 3,620 and the S&P500 gained 3 points at 1,638.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 55 points at 13,404 and the Hang Seng
off 14 points at 21,691.

WTI crude oil traded at $108.80 a barrel and Brent crude at $115.16.

Gold settled at $1,413 an ounce.

Happy Friday!

G.

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FTSE Futures Chart

European Factors to Watch-Shares seen steady; oil stocks in focus

Fri Aug 30, 2013 6:32am BST
PARIS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - European stocks are expected to open little
changed on Friday following the previous session's rally, but heavyweight energy
shares could feel the pinch of a retreat in oil prices as a possible military
strike on Syria appeared less likely.

Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open down 6
points to up 2 points, Germany's DAX to open down 2 to 11 points, or
0.1 percent lower, and France's CAC 40 to open down 3 points to flat.

After a sharp rally earlier this week, oil prices slipped back on Friday as
worries over supply disruptions in the Middle East eased slightly after Britain
said it will not join any military action against Syria. That was the latest
setback to U.S.-led efforts to punish Damascus over the use of chemical weapons
against civilians.

EUR German Retail Sales m/m -1.4% 0.5% -0.8%

GBP Nationwide HPI m/m 0.6% 0.6% 0.9%

Nikkei sags on futures-led selling, ends week and month lower

Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:22am BST
TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
slipped on Friday on futures-led selling as speculative
investors squared positions ahead of the weekend amid
uncertainty over possible military action against Syria and
ended both the week and the month lower.

The benchmark Nikkei shed 0.5 percent to 13,388.86,
and the broader Topix dropped 0.9 percent to 1,106.05.

For the week, the Nikkei lost 2 percent and posted its first
weekly fall in three weeks. The index also slid 2 percent in
August, declining for a fourth month in a row.

FTSE100 slightly lower early on as Syria concerns remain

Italian Quarterly Unemployment Rate 12.1% 12.1% 11.9%

Italian Monthly Unemployment Rate 12.0% 12.2% 12.1%

GBP Net Lending to Individuals m/m 1.3B 1.7B 1.5B

GBP M4 Money Supply m/m 0.6% 0.4% 0.1%

GBP Mortgage Approvals 61K 59K 58K

EUR CPI Flash Estimate y/y 1.3% 1.4% 1.6%

EUR Unemployment Rate 12.1% 12.1% 12.1%

EUR Italian Prelim CPI m/m 0.3% 0.2% 0.1%

FTSE100 modestly lower at midday on Syria concerns

Chicago PMI 53.0 53.2 52.3

USD Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment 82.1 81.2 80.0

FTSE100 ends session firmly lower as Syria worries persist

Have a great weekend all! See you Monday....

G.