MORNING BID EUROPE-A tug-of-war over the law in Poland

* A look at the day ahead from European Economics and Politics Editor Mark John and EMEA markets editor Mike Dolan. The views expressed are their own.

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - The tussle in Poland over who gets to appoint top judges starts again in parliament this morning after rowdy scenes last night. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party managed to get the bill through a first reading but gave up trying straight away for a final reading after opposition MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) threatened to delay it with amendments and other filibustering tactics. PiS president Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the opposition of treachery as several thousand people holding candles gathered in front of the presidential palace in a peaceful protest against the reforms.

As the stand-off continues, the European Commission is set to discuss the matter in Brussels on Wednesday. While it has expressed concerns for months about the autocratic direction of reforms under PiS in Poland, it has so far held off from any move to sanction Warsaw.

Today is the final Prime Minister's Questions in UK parliament before lawmakers head off on holiday and predictably enough the main subject is Brexit. Even (Taiwan OTC: 6436.TWO - news) as formal negotiations with Brussels enter their third day this week, there is no sign of a unified UK vision of what the outcome of the process should be. Separately, a committee of lawmakers from the parliament's upper house has issued a report concluding that Brexit poses a fundamental challenge to the future of the United Kingdom by removing the European Union law that has helped to bind it together.

All of this may be totally overshadowed for its domestic audience, however, when the BBC publishes this morning the salaries of all its star presenters, journalists and pundits earning more than 150,000 pounds a year. That will be enough to dominate the banter at many of the nation's dinner tables this evening - the more so given that it coincides with the publication of a major annual survey of poverty.

MARKETS AT 0655 GMT

Although it has paused for breath this morning, the dollar’s accelerating slide this week is acting as a spur to world markets, particularly emerging equity markets that hit a 27-month high on Wednesday and are now clocking up year-to-date gains of 22 percent. As many analysts point out, a weakening dollar is an effective loosening of monetary conditions for the rest of the world that either borrows in dollars or via central bank money market activity that tends to loosen local interest rates to offset any damaging domestic currency appreciation. Add to that ebbing concerns about an imminent tightening of policy by the top four central banks in the world, with all due trepidation about Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting, and optimism about Chinese economic activity and its effect on metals and commodity prices and emerging markets are back on a roll.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) an eye on the ECB meeting, euro/dollar hit a 14-month high of $1.1583 yesterday before recoiling a bit this morning. The dollar has been hit by sub-forecast inflation and retail readings from the United States and growing doubts about President Trump’s ability to get any major economic stimulus legislation through Congress. Elsewhere the focus is on the U.S. earnings season, which despite a mixed bag of high-profile reports from the likes of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) is showing more than 10 percent annual bottom-line profit after almost 10 percent of the S&P500 companies have reported. Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) , Northern Trust and Amex are out later. European shares are set to rebound this morning after yesterday’s weak session, following some disappointing updates and losses among banking stocks. * Europe corp events: ASML (Milan: ASML.MI - news) , Kone (LSE: 0II2.L - news) , Swedbank (LSE: 0H6T.L - news) , TomTom (LSE: 0MKS.L - news) , Orion (LSE: 0M2N.L - news) , Severn Trent (Other OTC: STRNY - news)

* UK IFS think tank annual report on living standards

* UK DMO sells 2023 gilts

* SAfrica June inflation; May retail sales

* Russia jobless, wages, retail sales, PPI

* Belgium July consumer confidence

* US Q2 earnings: Morgan Stanley, Amex, Northern Trust, US Bancorp, Qualcomm (Swiss: QCOM-USD.SW - news) , MT Bank, Grainger (LSE: GRI.L - news) , Textron * US June housing starts/permits

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)