Summary:

• European car makers push indices from the Old Continent higher

• Scandinavian currencies continue their rally

• US data in the spotlight (ADP at 1:15 pm BST and ISM at 3:00 pm BST)

Despite rather downbeat Asian session European stock benchmarks trade higher on Thursday. Gains on the Old Continent are mainly fuelled by car makers. Apart from that it is worth to note that SEK and NOK are one of the top performing currencies from G10 basket for another day. Japanese yen lags behind all the majors on the back of bigger risk appetite. In the afternoon a pack of data from the US is scheduled for release therefore we can be sure volatility will be there.

The US labour market has been really strong – this is not questioned at all. Average employment growth in the past 12 months through May was at 197k, just a notch below a 200k figure for a previous such period. If anything, this suggests a great appetite for workers as you’d normally assume some employment growth deceleration as the unemployment rate goes down to 4%.

Speaking of stolen coins it is worth highlighting a report by the cryptocurrency start-up CipherTrace. According to the company around $761 million worth of digital assets have been stolen from the cryptocurrency exchanges so far this year.

Relative outperformance of German auto shares stems from the communique conveyed by the US ambassador to Germany suggesting that Washington would support lowering car tariffs to zero for US and European carmakers. The news is a result of a meeting between the US ambassador and the bosses of Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW as well as the head of parts maker Continental.

Chinese indices are set to close another session in a row substantially lower as investors fret about US tariffs coming into effect as soon as tomorrow. Let’s recall that the Trump administration has said earlier that it will slap China with $34 billion levies on 6 July whereas Beijing has vowed to retaliate yet the same day if it happens.