6:00am JPY Housing Starts y/y 15.3% 15.9% 14.5%

Europe Factors to Watch-Shares seen flat ahead of Fed, BNP eye

Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:28am BST
PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) - European stocks are seen opening mostly flat on
Wednesday as investors move to the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's
policy announcement, expected to shed light on the outlook for its stimulus
measures.

The banking sector will be in the spotlight after French lender BNP Paribas
reported a smaller-than-expected 4.7 percent drop in quarterly
earnings, as its drive to cut costs and expand in relatively resilient markets
like Germany got underway.

Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open 6 to 7
points higher, or up 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX to open 1 to 2 points
lower, or down 0.02 percent, and France's CAC 40 to open flat to 1 point
lower, or down 0.03 percent.

European stock index futures signal mixed open

PARIS, July 31 | Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:04am BST
(Reuters) - European stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wednesday, as investors move to the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy announcement, expected to shed light on the outlook for its stimulus measures.

At 0602 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50 were down 0.1 percent, for UK's FTSE 100 up 0.1 percent, for Germany's DAX down 0.2 percent and for France's CAC down 0.2 percent.

Morning All.

Nikkei drops on caution over Fed result; index fell a 3rd month in July

Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:22am BST
TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average fell
on Wednesday, as caution about the outcome of a U.S. Federal
Reserve policy meeting sidelined investors, while some
companies' results disappointed the market, such as Fuji Heavy
Industries Ltd.

The benchmark Nikkei declined 1.5 percent to
13,668.32, and the broader Topix fell 1.5 percent to
1,131.70. The Nikkei shed 0.1 percent in July, falling for a
third month.

German Retail Sales m/m -1.5% 0.1% 0.7%

French Consumer Spending m/m -0.8% 0.1% 0.5%

FTSE100 slightly lower in early deals ahead of Fed decisions

German Unemployment Change` -7K -1K -13K

Italian Monthly Unemployment Rate 12.1% 12.3% 12.2%

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

EUR Unemployment Rate 12.1% 12.2% 12.1%

EUR Italian Prelim CPI m/m 0.0% 0.3% 0.3%

German 30-y Bond Auction 2.47|1.6 2.16|1.5

FTSE100 comfortably higher at midday as the miners rally

USD ADP Non-Farm Employment Change 200K 179K 188K

CAD GDP m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.1%

USD Advance GDP q/q 1.7% 1.1% 1.8%

USD Advance GDP Price Index q/q 0.7% 1.1% 1.2%

USD Employment Cost Index q/q 0.5% 0.4% 0.3%

USD Chicago PMI 52.3 53.7 51.6

Gold creeping back up after that sell off.

FTSE100 ends firmly higher ahead of Fed rate decision

US STOCKS-Wall St rises after no word from Fed on tapering

NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks extended gains in volatile trading on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve gave no hint that a reduction in the pace of its bond-buying program is imminent.

In a statement following its two-day meeting, the Fed said the economy continues to recover but still needs support.

The three major U.S. stock indexes quickly added to gains within a few minutes of the Fed's statement. About 2:19 p.m., though, the Dow briefly turned negative and then rebounded.

S&P indexes tracking financials, consumer discretionary and other growth sectors led the advance. The S&P financial index was up 0.6 percent.

"This is pretty much what the market wanted. The Fed will maintain its asset purchases until it sees labor market improvement, and it will maintain an accommodative policy after the purchases end," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Rockwell Securities in New York.

The Fed's stimulus is seen by many as central to the S&P 500's gain of nearly 19 percent so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 40.02 points, or 0.26 percent, at 15,560.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 8.21 points, or 0.49 percent, at 1,694.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22.53 points, or 0.62 percent, at 3,639.00.

Stock indexes remained below their session highs, however. In late morning trade, the Dow set an all-tme intraday high of 15,634.32.

In another milestone set earlier in the session, Facebook Inc's stock traded above its initial public offering price of $38 for the first time since its market debut in May 2012. The stock rose as high as $38.31. By mid-afternoon trading, though, Facebook was down 2 percent at $36.89.