Thursday 4th July 2019

Trade was a little lighter ahead of the 4th July holiday, but equities took an early mark on record highs, whilst bond yields fell further. NAB’s Gavin Friend suggests to Phil Dobbie that it would be a different story without the trade tensions, which raises the question about the effectiveness of any easing by central banks. They also discuss weaker services data from Europe and the UK and President Trump’s latest tirade on currency manipulation. Was it a knee jerk reaction to a widening trade deficit? Meanwhile, will Australia’s growing trade surplus influence future rate cut decisions by the RBA?