US CREDIT OPEN-Futures flat as market digests the FOMC minutes

By John Balassi

NEW YORK, Aug 18 (IFR) - Summary of overnight events and Thursday's main headlines:

Dow Futures: -7, S&P Futures: -2.00, Nasdaq Futures: -6.25

CDX IG.26: -0.0173 tighter, CDX HY.26: +0.00065 point higher

10-yr UST yield: 1.549% -1.2bp, 30-yr UST yield: 2.26% -1.3bp

EUR/USD: 1.1328 +0.37%

USD/JPY: 100.26 +0.02%

WTI Oil: $47.03 +0.51%

HEADLINES

Futures flat as minutes show Fed divided over rate hike

U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stock index futures were little changed on Thursday, a day after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting showed policymakers were divided over whether to raise interest rates in the near-term.

World stocks rise, dollar weakens on divided Fed

World stocks rose and the dollar sank to a seven-week low on Thursday after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting showed policymakers were divided over whether to raise interest rates soon.

Oil steady near six-week highs on talk of supply freeze

Brent crude oil traded above $50 a barrel for the first time in six weeks on Thursday as the world's biggest producers prepared to discuss a possible freeze in output levels.

Euro zone return to inflation confirmed as food prices surge

A modest uptick in euro zone inflation in July was confirmed by data on Friday which showed food prices surging over the year, although overall price indices still fell in 12 of the 19 member states.

Dollar at seven-week low as Fed minutes show little support for rate rise

The dollar fell to a seven-week low against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting showed a bias among policymakers against raising interest rates soon.

OVERNIGHT TREASURIES

* T-note futures post minor gains overnight but remain well below post FOMC highs of 132-12+

* Volume fair at 149k as at 06:00 EST

* Curve slightly steeper again as short end does best

* 2s/30s just over 0.5bp steeper within range

* 10yr US/Germany holds 161bp again, 1bp wider on day

* 10-year cash trades in 1.536% to 1.561% range

* USTs outperforming Germany by 0.4bp in the 10-year maturity compared to the previous London close

GLOBAL MACRO

* Market opens risk-on after dovish FOMC minutes

* Brent Crude trades above $50 as hopes resume that producers may tackle oversupply problem

* Shanghai Composite loses 0.17% as financials feel brunt of profit taking

* ECB July Monetary Policy minutes due 11:30 GMT

* France Q2 ILO Unemployment 9.9% (prev 10.2%)

* EZ June Current Account NSA EUR37.6bn (prev EUR16.5bn)

* EZ June Current Account SA EUR 28.2bn (prev 31.8bn)

* EZ June Net Investment Flow EUR 21.4bn (prev EUR 46.2bn)

* UK July Retail Sales 1.4% m/m (exp 0.2%, prev -0.9%) and 5.9% y/y (exp 4.2%, prev 4.3%)

* UK July Retail Sales Ex-Fuel 1.5% m/m (exp 0.4%, prev -0.9%) and 5.4% y/y (exp 3.9%, prev 3.9%)

* EZ July Inflation Final -0.6% m/m (exp -0.5%, prev 0.2%) and 0.2% y/y (exp 0.2%, prev 0.2%)

DATA

* 08:30 Initial Jobless Claims (13Aug) (mkt 265k, prev 266k)

* 08:30 Continued Claims (06Aug) (mkt 2.140 mn, prev 2.155 mn)

* 08:30 Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey (Aug) (mkt 2.0, prev -2.9)

* 10:00 Leading Economic Indicators (Jul) (mkt +0.3% m/m, prev +0.3% m/m)

EVENTS

* 10:00 FRB New York's Dudley (voter, dove) speaks to reporters on district and national employment; New York, NY

* 11:00 Treasury announces reopened 2-year floating rate notes (e: $13 bn)

* 11:00 Treasury announces 2-, 5- and 7-year notes

* 13:00 Treasury auctions $14 bn reopened 5-year TIPS

* 16:00 FRB San Francisco's Williams (non-voter, centrist) on the economic outlook; Anchorage, AK

* 20:00 FRB Dallas's Kaplan (2017 voter, centrist) at Association for Financial Professionals meeting; Dallas, TX

USD HIGH-GRADE SUMMARY

Number of deals priced on Wednesday: 1

Wednesay's issuance: US$500m

Weekly issuance: US$7.775bn

Monthly issuance: US$94.85bn

Quarterly issuance: US$189.450bn

2016 year to date issuance: US$902.817bn

2015 year to date issuance: US$899.202bn

2015 full year issuance: US$1.269trn

*New August monthly record

LIPPER FLOWS

For the week ended August 10 Lipper US Fund Flows reported the following:

- INVESTMENT-GRADE FUNDS NET INFLOW: US$2.518bn

- IG YTD NET INFLOW: US$25.790bn

USD HIGH-GRADE ACTIVE DEALS

none

USD HIGH-GRADE PIPELINE

Woori Bank (KSE: 000030.KS - news) , A2/A-, hired Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) /Merrill Lynch, Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) , Commerzbank (Xetra: CBK100 - news) , Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC and Nomura to arrange fixed-income investor meetings that took place in the US, Europe and Asia from July 11 to July 20. (Reporting by John Balassi; Editing by Marc Carnegie)