Four things to know before US market open

Europe growth
A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index for the euro area fell to 55.8 in July, the weakest pace in six months, according to IHS Markit. In France, the slowdown was concentrated in services as manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in six years. The IMF, meanwhile, has indicated that the world will rely less on the United States to drive global growth in the coming years, and cut its forecast for U.K. growth to 1.7 percent for this year while raising projections for Japan and the euro area.

OPEC unchanged
At a meeting in Russia today, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies indicated they weren't planning any major changes to their deal to cut production. That means there will be no moves to impose output caps on Libya and Nigeria, countries that had been excused from the deal forged November 2016. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate for September delivery was trading broadly unchanged at $45.80 at 5:25 a.m. Eastern Time.

Dollar bears
Speculator and hedge-fund net short positioning on the dollar have risen to the highest number of contracts since 2013, according to the latest CFTC report. The currency slumped to a five-week low against the yen as concerns for President Donald Trump's growth agenda rise ahead of closed-door testimony from Jared Kushner to the Senate Intelligence Committee today. In other currency news, Poland's zloty strengthened the most in two months after the country's president unexpectedly vetoed part of the government's controversial judicial revamp.

Markets slip
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed, while Japan's Topix index dropped 0.5 percent with exporters leading the losses due to the strong yen. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.5 percent lower at 5:45 a.m. with automakers among the worst performers as they come under scrutiny over possible collusion. U.S. market futures pointed to a lower open.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Jr Trader Petar Milanov

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