From CBA:
US new home sales jumped by 7.6pct to 369,000 in May marking the highest reading since April 2010. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index jumped from 5.1 in May to +5.8 in June. Both production and capacity utilisation readings jumped strongly, to 15.5 and 13.3 respectively. The new orders index also gained, rising from 0.6 to 7.9. The regional Dallas survey appears to have bucked the trend of sharply weaker manufacturing activity reported by both Empire and Philly Fed surveys.
European shares recorded its biggest one day fall in more than three weeks on Monday. Spain formally requested European aid for its banking sector. Banking stocks were amongst the worst performers, the STOXX Europe 600 Banking index lost 3pct. Spanish and Italian banks bore the brunt of the weakness. with Santander down 4.7pct, BBVA down 5.5pct and UniCredit down 8.4pct. Speculation that Moody's was going to downgrade the Spanish banking sector added to the selloff. The downgrades were delivered at 7.30am AEST. The ratings action follows the weakening of the Spanish Government’s creditworthiness (Moody’s downgraded Spain from A3 to Baa3 on 13 June).
