Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 35 points to 15,530, the Nasdaq gained 28 points at
3,746 and the S&P500 added 7 points at 1,705.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently up 277 points at 14,589 and the Hang Seng off
75 points at 23,106.

WTI crude oil traded at $105.42 a barrel and Brent crude at $108.19.

Gold settled at $1,309 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

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FTSE Futures Chart

European Factors to Watch-Shares to gain, Fed move seen moderate

Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:31am BST
LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - European shares were set to edge closer to
recent five-year highs on Wednesday, with growing expectations that the U.S.
central bank would only announce a moderate cut in its programme of monetary
stimulus underpinning the market.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to pare back its $85 billion
monthly purchases of bonds at its two-day meeting, ending on Wednesday. But
latest Reuters polling shows economists expect only a $10 billion reduction,
down from a $15 billion median prediction in an August poll.

"As things stand, we feel the market is pricing in a $5 to $10 billion cut
in the pace of the buying. Any more than $10 billion should be ... negative for
equity," IG strategist Stan Shamu said in a note.

Financial spreadbetters predicted Britain's FTSE 100 to open 18
points, or 0.27 percent, higher, Germany's DAX to gain 27 points, or
0.31 percent, and France's CAC 40 to rise 8 to 11 points, or as much as
0.27 percent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index ended 0.5 percent lower at
1,252.63 points on Tuesday after closing at its highest level since June 2008 in
the previous session.

Nikkei rises to 8-week high on hopes Fed tapering will be modest

Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:15am BST
TOKYO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose
to an eight-week high on Wednesday, spurred by expectations the
U.S. Federal Reserve will deliver only a modest cut to its
massive stimulus program at the end of its two-day meeting.

The Nikkei ended up 1.4 percent at 14,505.36, its
best close since July 25, and at one point hit 14,625.97. The
index broke above its short-term resistance level of 13,606.66,
a 68 percent retracement of its May high to its low in June.

The Topix gained 1.0 percent to 1,193.07.

UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Wed Sept 18

Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:30am BST
(Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening up 18 points, or 0.3 percent higher on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures flat ahead of the cash market open.

Good thread = lots of information and connection to ? Reuters - well done whoever designed and started this Bob

FTSE100 little changed in early deals ahead of BoE minutes

BARC now ex-rights. Rights trading at 96p implying underlying BARC at 305p v close of 299.1p yesterday......

MPC Asset Purchase Facility Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

MPC Official Bank Rate Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

Morning All.

Fed likely to reduce bond buying, pass policy milestone

WASHINGTON | Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:55am BST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to begin its long retreat from ultra-easy monetary policy on Wednesday by announcing a small reduction in its bond buying, while stressing that interest rates will remain near zero for a long time to come.

Most economists expect the Fed to scale back its monthly purchases by a modest $10 billion, taking them to $75 billion and signaling the beginning of the end to an unprecedented episode of monetary expansion that has been felt worldwide.

USD Building Permits 0.92M 0.95M 0.95M

USD Housing Starts 0.89M 0.93M 0.90M

Midday Market Overview

Sorry late. Network went down... :(

USD Crude Oil Inventories -4.4M -1.2M -0.2M

FTSE100 ends modestly lower ahead of Fed announcement