ON DECK FOR FRIDAY, JULY 19
ON DECK FOR FRIDAY, JULY 19

KEY POINTS:

  • Large scale IT outages hit multiple industries
  • Markets are functioning well with a mild risk-off bias
  • UK retail sales fall more than expected, trend is still going nowhere
  • Japanese core inflation ticks up, follows timelier Tokyo gauge
  • Canadian retail sales to be updated for May and June, inform Q2 tracking

And this was supposed to be a dull Friday with only a handful of regional macro reports to consider. A CrowdStrike program update of its Falcon cybersecurity software messed up Microsoft Windows and is combining with Microsoft’s problems with its Azure cloud service and 365 Office suite. The company says it was not a cyberattack or security issue and that a fix has been deployed, yet the damage will mess up Friday and probably beyond for a lot of folks. The effects are wreaking havoc on multiple businesses from airlines to banks, the LSE to a multitude of other types of businesses. This is being billed as the largest overall IT outage in history. Financial markets are functioning, but in mild risk-off territory with stocks down by up to ¾% in Europe, and flat S&P futures. Sovereign bond yields little changed. The dollar is broadly but modestly stronger.

UK retail sales volumes fell by more than expected in June (-1.2% m/m, -0.6% consensus) after a 2.9% prior gain (chart 1). Gilts and sterling barely noticed if at all. Weakness was broadly based. To give back a fair portion of the prior month’s surge isn’t especially surprising, but the smoothed trend has been moving sideways ever since the start of last year and volumes are slightly weaker than they were before the pandemic.

Chart 1: UK Retail Sales Volumes

Japan’s inflation rate largely followed the timelier Tokyo gauge that was released toward the end of June. National core inflation ex-food and energy ticked up to 2.2% y/y, following the Tokyo gauge’s up tick and m/m continues to accelerate (chart 2). The yen and JGBs walked it off but the BoJ may not on July 31st.

Chart 2: Japanese Core Inflation

Canada reports retail sales for May and June (8:30amET). Statcan previously guided that May was down -0.6% m/m SA in nominal terms based on a partial ‘flash’ sample but this can be subject to significant revisions. We’ll also get details for May like volumes, and the flash estimate for June sans details. Volumes have been tracking poorly in Q2 (chart 3) but recall that retail sales in Canada exclude all services.

Chart 3: Canadian Real Retail Sales Growth

Canada also reports producer prices for June (8:30amET); the raw materials gauge reflects already known information about commodities, but watch the industrial product index for whether the flat May reading was an aberration.

The US faces no major releases and light Fed-speak (Williams 10:40amET, Bostic 1pmET).