Opening the door

Today’s news headlines:

• ‘‘Johnson outlines phased reopening of shops and schools’. Yesterday, Boris Johnson confirmed plans for the reopening of retail stores and schools in a so-called 'step-two' towards easing lockdown conditions. Car showrooms and outdoor retail stores can reopen from Monday while non-essential shops are due to reopen on June 15th. The PM also announced that from Monday, groups of up to six people from different households could meet as long as they adhere to social distancing rules. (Financial Times)

• ‘UK opens door to citizenship for 300,000 HK residents’. The UK’s government has taken a bold stance against the imposition of Chinese national security laws on Hong Kong, by offering a citizenship route to hundreds of thousands of residents in the former colony. The governments of the US, UK, Australia, and Canada released a rare joint statement yesterday, condemning Beijing’s latest move, because it undermines the one country, two systems structure in place since 1997. (Financial Times)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• Deteriorating global relations with China has put a dampener on what might’ve been a strong week for stocks boosted by the news of reopening economies and stimulus packages. To emphasise the risk-off move, the Yen, gold and sovereign bond yields all advanced and equity index futures are broadly in the red to begin the day. 

Today's events

German Retail Sales m/m:  -5.3% vs -5.6% previously
French preliminary GDP growth q/q:  -5.3% vs -5.8% previously
Eurozone flash CPI y/y:  10am
Canada GDP growth m/m:  1.30pm
US Core PCE Price Index m/m:  1.30pm
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Speaks:  4.00pm

Interbank rates:

GBP/USD: 1.2350
GBP/EUR: 1.1117
EUR/USD: 1.1105