Markets Overview: (Source: Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, DJ Newswires)

UK 100 Index called to open flat +30pts at 7325, after rebounding back above 7300 thanks to a bullish double-bottom from yesterday’s 7260 2-week lows. This revives hopes in a recovery towards last week’s 7360 highs, if not the prior week’s 7440 record. However, the recent sell-off and breached support have left hurdles along the way. Bulls need a break above 7325 overnight highs, while Bears want a breach of 7310. Watch levels: Bullish 7325, Bearish 7310

Calls for a positive open come thanks to an overnight recovery in investor sentiment following a Trump trade wobble derived from concerns about delivery on pro-growth policy pledges. US bourses may have closed lower, but only just, and well off their worst levels, while Asian bourses are nicely positive. A USD finding support at 10-month rising lows is helping in terms of curbing strength in the likes of the Yen, GBP and EUR to offer a helpful translational boost.

After an eventful end to last week and tough start to the new, investors appear willing to give President Trump another chance at delivering on his policy pledges. However, this time they want it to be growth-focussed (tax reform, infrastructure spending, banking deregulation) rather than just wanting to give two fingers to Democrats by repealing Obamacare.

Japan’s Nikkei is over 1% to the good thanks a Yen off its highs, led by Energy and Miners via a recovery in commodity prices, most notably Oil and Copper. Although risk appetite has returned to some degree, note precious metals have yet to pull back markedly. Australia’s ASX is outperforming thanks to a rebound by yesterday’s global laggards – the Banks and Miners.

US equity markets continued their sell-off on the back of a disappointing performance from the Trump administration and the Republican party, with the Dow Jones now in its longest losing streak since 2011. The Tech-focused Nasdaq, however, continues its outperformance, closing higher once again, while the Dow, having pared early losses, remained hindered by Energy and Financial weakness and Telecoms proved the biggest drag on the S&P 500.

Crude Oil benchmarks have failed to break out of tight trading ranges as conflicting reports of OPEC production cut extension talks and rising US production are leaving prices in a state of flux. Brent Crude remains in a $50-51 sideways trading channel while its US counterpart remains in a $47-48 falling channel. Investor focus will be on this evening’s API inventory data for this week’s first gauge of US production following Friday’s 10th consecutive Baker Hughes Rig Count increase.

Having yesterday traded at a fresh March high of $1261 in its best daily performance in almost a fortnight, Gold is on the back foot this morning as the US dollar attempts to mount a recovery from its post-heathcare withdrawal sell-off. All eyes will now be on the Trump administration’s next move, with investors trying to determine if a move away from safe haven assets into riskier equities is warranted.

Today’s macro calendar is once again very light, with major releases not coming until the US session this afternoon. These come in the form of US House Prices, expected to show continuing growth in the monthly reading while holding steady in the annual figure. US Consumer Confidence, forecast to cool slightly from February’s reading of 114.8, while the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index will look to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index reading which significantly underperformed following a run of improvements by peers of late.

Speaker-wise, the ECB’s Benoit Coeure has a busy schedule today delivering opening remarks at the third OFR-ECB-BoE workshop on “Setting Global Standards for Granular Data: Sharing the Challenge” in Frankfurt (8am) this morning before rushing back to Brussels for a panel discussion on ‘ECB transparency and accountability’ organised by Transparency International EU (12.45pm).

The real attention will, however, likely be on this evening’s raft of Fed speakers following the European close with the likes of George “U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy”; 5.45pm), Chair Yellen (Addressing Workforce Development Challenges in Low-Income Communities; 5.50pm), Kaplan (moderated discussion at the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations; 6pm) and Powell (America’s Central Bank: This History and Structure of the Federal Reserve; 9.30pm).

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UK Company Headlines: (Source: Reuters/DJ Newswires)

• Genel slashes reserves estimate for Iraqi Kurdistan field again
• United Utilities sees lower revenue for 2016-2017
• UK builder Redrow walks away from Bovis bid
• Tesco to pay £129m to settle false accounting charges
• Gold steady, investors focus on Trump agenda
• Wolseley posts HY trading profit of £515m
• Cobham to raise about £512.4m through rights issue
• Bookrunner says books for Segro rump placing are open now and expected to close at short notice
• Moss Bros says full – year pretax profit from cont. ops up 20.3%
• Ladbrokes Coral 2016 operating profit rises 22%
• AA full – year core profit steady, new business up
• Premier Foods says 2016 actuarial valuations agreed with all UK pension schemes
• Card Factory posts FY pre – tax profit of £82.8m
• Thomas Cook says tourists returning to Egypt and Turkey
• Sirius Minerals to apply to move to London Stock Exchange main market, de – list from AIM
• Aviva looks to sell Friends Provident International for up to $750m
• London copper steadies above two – week low as jitters fade
• Oil futures supported by weaker dollar, but bloated supply still weighs