US threats for additional tariffs

1. According to media, on Monday evening, President Trump said that he gave instructions to find Chinese imports at an aggregated value of about 200B for additional tariffs of 10%.
2. The announcement was made after China announced its retaliatory measures which were considered as unfair by the White House.
3. President Trump also stated that additional tariffs could be placed, should there be further Chinese retaliations.
4. Should there be further escalation we could see safe havens strengthening even further.

May defeated in House of Lords

1. On Monday evening, the UK House of Lords voted an amendment to enable the UK parliament of a “meaningful vote” on Brexit.
2. The vote constitutes another defeat for Theresa May’s government which will have to face a second vote about the same issue in the House of Commons.
3. Pro-EU rebels could be voting in favor of the amendment, providing instability for Theresa May’s government.
4. Markets seem to be in a wait and see position currently, but further negative headlines could weaken the pound.

Germany in political uncertainty

1. The coalition supporting the German government could prove to be unstable and dissolve, should the three parties not find common ground on the immigration issue.
2. German chancellor Merkel, accepted a two week’s ultimatum yesterday, practically to strike a new EU deal on immigration.
3. The ultimatum was given by CSU, one of the ruling parties and if there is no agreement in the next EU summit, Germany’s government could destabilize, with wider repercussions on EU’s asylum policy.
4. Should there be further negative headlines on the issue we could see the EUR weakening.

Today’s other economic highlights

• Eurozone: Current Account for April, Survey: +30.3B Prior: +32.0B, 08:00 (GMT), could weaken EUR
• US: Building Permits for May, Survey:+1.350m Prior:+1.364m, 12:30 (GMT), could weaken USD
• US: Housing Starts for May, Survey: +1.317m Prior: +1.287m, 12:30 (GMT), could support USD

IronFX Daily Report ‘June 19th’