Housekeeping: Good Morning.
“Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely ... I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” General Eisenhower
Today:
Commentary: D-Day ECB Day
Premium: Micheal Every, mBridge update
Session Recap:
US equities rallied on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record high after weak economic data raised hopes of a Fed rate cut later this year.
Premium / Markets:
D-Day in Europe
6 June 1944, 150,000 soldiers from the US, UK, and Canada invaded Nazi-occupied France to begin the liberation of Europe
Eu elections occurring in which ideological control is at stake in the wake of multiple assassination attempts against conservative politicians
Interview with Tom Luongo on these very topics will be out in a day or two
ECB Day
Today is ECB decision day in which Europe will likely lower rates in pursuit of lessening its debt payments, kickstarting its economy, and hoping the US does the same very soon..
From Michael Every Global Strategist Rabobank
The Bank of Canada became the first G7 central bank to cut rates in this cycle yesterday with a 25bp reduction from 5.00% to 4.75% alongside a clear signal more will come. However, it is also aware that the fight against inflation may not yet have been won.
Today, it’s the turn of the ECB, where a 25bp cut from 4.00% to 3.75% is the universal expectation. Some in Europe are lobbying for this to be followed up by a further move to 3.50% as soon as next month. But where after that? It’s a good question.
Much More at bottom…
Market News:
"Global investors are turning their backs on sustainably focused stock funds... Source: FT- sustainably
"Nvidia’s valuation surpassed $3 trillion Wednesday, with the maker of prized artificial-intelligence chips becoming the third company ever to reach the milestone. That total puts the company just above Apple... and behind only Microsoft." Source: WSJ- second biggest company in the world makes computer chips and gets gamma squeezed
The first trip of Starliner, a 15-foot-wide capsule, with astronauts on board comes four years and six days after SpaceX, the other company that NASA has hired to provide astronaut rides, launched its first mission with astronauts to the International Space Station..
"ADP reported that companies added 152,000 jobs in May, fewer than the downwardly revised 188,000 in April and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 175,000. Source: CNBC
Geopolitics:
Israel's cabinet has cancelled their planned meetings amid reports that Hamas has rejected the truce proposal, according to Israeli media cited by journalist Elster
Heavy Israeli bombardment of South Lebanon was reported, according to Al Monitor Senior Correspondent Karam.
Russian President Putin said he has no intention to attack NATO, according to Reuters.
US State Department has approved the possible sale of F-16 parts to Taiwan for USD 80mln, according to the Pentagon
Some headlines via NewSquawk or DataTrek
Data on Deck: Unemployment
MONDAY,9:45 am S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI May 50.7 50.9TUESDAY, JUNE 410:00 am Factory orders April 0.7% 1.6%WEDNESDAY, JUNE 58:15 am ADP employment May 179,000 192,000 10:00 S&P flash U.S. services PMI May 54.7 54.8THURSDAY, JUNE 6 8:30 am Initial jobless claims June 1 216,000 219,000
FRIDAY, JUNE 7 U.S. employment report May 178,000 175,000 8:30 am U.S. unemployment rate May 3.9%1
Premium:
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mBridge Works
A platform based on a new blockchain – the mBridge Ledger – was built to support real-time, peer-to-peer, cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions. In 2022, a pilot with real-value transactions was conducted. Since then, the mBridge project team has been exploring whether the prototype platform could evolve to become an MVP, minimum viable product – a stage now reached.
To achieve this, the four founding participant central banks and monetary authorities have each deployed a validating node, while commercial banks have conducted more real-value transactions in preparation for the MVP release. In tandem, the project steering committee has created a bespoke governance and legal framework, including a rulebook, tailored to match the platform's unique decentralised nature.
The MVP platform is enabled to undertake real-value transactions (subject to jurisdictional preparedness) and is also compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. This allows it to be a testbed for add-on technology solutions, new use cases and interoperability with other platforms.
Bottom Line: it works and will expand to include other countries, other products, and other assets
