Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 20 points to 15,484, the Nasdaq added 7 points at
3,607 and the S&P 500 gained 3 points at 1,683.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently up 75 points at 14,581 and the Hang Seng off
16 points at 21,287.

WTI crude oil traded at $106.44 a barrel and Brent crude at $109.09.

Gold settled at $1,284 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

Nikkei rises to 7-1/2-week high on strong Wall St, weaker yen

Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:11am BST
TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose
to a 7-1/2-week high on Tuesday, helped by gains in Wall Street
and as a weaker yen boosted exporters.

The benchmark Nikkei rose 0.6 percent to 14,599.12
points, the highest closing level since May 24. The broader
Topix advanced 0.7 percent to 1,210.54.

European Factors to Watch -Shares set to open flat, focus on ZEW

Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:25am BST
LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - European stocks are seen opening steady on
Tuesday, consolidating a sharp upward move over the last three weeks, with
traders looking to closely watched German sentiment data and earnings for
direction.

Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open 4 points
lower, or as much as 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX to open 6 to 7 points
lower, or flat, and France's CAC 40 to open 3 points lower, or as much
as 0.1 percent.

The German ZEW index, a snapshot of German investor sentiment, could help to
provide direction, and is seen rising to 39.6, which would indicate a third
straight month of growing confidence in the euro zone's biggest economy.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst closed 0.4 percent higher on Monday,
extending a recovery off of 2013 lows to take gains since June 25 to 7.7
percent, with banks among the top performers.

Banks may be in focus again as Goldman Sachs reports earnings, with
the European sector already having benefited from above expectation reports from
Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan over the last couple
of sessions.

Coca-Cola and Yahoo also report, and are seen as bellwethers
for beverage and technology sectors. In Europe, where the earnings season is yet
to pick up steam, L'Oreal highlights the day's reports.

FTSE100 slightly higher in early deals, with miners strong

Italian Trade Balance 3.90B 2.14B 1.91B

GBP PPI Input m/m 0.2% -0.2% -0.3%

GBP PPI Input m/m 0.2% -0.2% -0.3%

GBP RPI y/y 3.3% 3.3% 3.1%

GBP Core CPI y/y 2.3% 2.3% 2.2%

GBP HPI y/y 2.9% 2.9% 2.6%

GBP PPI Output m/m 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%

EUR German ZEW Economic Sentiment 36.3 39.8 38.5

EUR ZEW Economic Sentiment 32.8 31.8 30.6

EUR CPI y/y 1.6% 1.6% 1.6%

EUR Core CPI y/y 1.2% 1.2% 1.2%

EUR Trade Balance 14.6B 15.8B 16.1B

FTSE100 turns slightly lower by midday as the bears take charge

CAD Manufacturing Sales m/m 0.7% 0.7% -2.4%

USD Core CPI m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%

USD CPI m/m 0.5% 0.3% 0.1%

BoE's Fisher says forward guidance may smooth stimulus exit

LONDON | Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:27pm BST
(Reuters) - Giving markets clearer guidance about when interest rates will rise may help the Bank of England steer a smoother exit from exceptional stimulus measures, a top policymaker said on Tuesday.

However, Paul Fisher, one of the most dovish members of the Bank's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, said an exit might be several years away and the current debate was about whether or not to give more help to the economy.

"I should say that all the discussions that we're having at the moment are more about whether we should be giving forward guidance and using thresholds, whether we should be giving more stimulus, rather than discussing what the exit strategy will be," Fisher told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

USD TIC Long-Term Purchases -27.2B 14.3B -21.8B

USD Capacity Utilization Rate 77.8% 77.8% 77.6%

USD Industrial Production m/m 0.3% 0.2% 0.0%

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 57 51 51

FTSE100 ends session lower, suffering broad-based losses