LDN - Business

Take Five: World markets themes for the week ahead

[November 04, 2017] LONDON (Reuters) - Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/TRUMP ON TOUR

U.S. President Donald Trump embarks on his first trip to Asia in the coming week, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Security concerns in the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea will grab a lot of attention, but investors will also look at trade talks, with Trump particularly keen to address his country's vast trade deficit with China that Beijing calls unintentional, but which he calls "horrible".

There is also the first deluge of data since last month's People's Party Congress in China. Import and loan growth figures will be particularly closely watched.

A weakening of the former would point to domestic demand finally flagging, while an acceleration of loan growth would show borrowers are finding ways around tighter new lending rules.

China to cut consumer product tariffs, lift financing to boost imports-vice minister

EXCLUSIVE-Energy, not tech or finance, in CEO line-up for Trump's China visit

2/BALLISTIC BITCOIN

Investors' appetite for bitcoin appears to have no bounds. The digital currency climbed above $7,000 on Thursday for the first time ever, after an astronomical increase of more than 900 percent over the past 12 months. News that the world's biggest derivatives exchange operator, CME Group, was set to launch bitcoin futures was seen as a significant step in bitcoin's road to mainstream adoption, driving the latest surge in price.

But with high-profile investors such as Warren Buffett and the head of Credit Suisse saying in recent days that the bitcoin market represents a bubble, could that be set to burst in spectacular fashion? What is to stop a rival cryptocurrency - of which there is a potentially unlimited quantity - from becoming investors' digital currency of choice? With bitcoin now worth more than $120 billion, more than Citi or Goldman Sachs, the consequences of a sudden crash could be severe.

Cryptocurrency market cap hits record $200 bln as bitcoin soars

CME to launch bitcoin futures in push for currency's wide adoption

3/ NEED A JOLT?

The Nov. 7 release of the September Job Opening and Labor Turnover (JOLT) survey <USJOLT=ECI> will show whether demand for labor has held up or is in need of an - ahem - jolt.

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

At the moment, the ratio of job openings versus quit jobs is close to 2 to 1, hovering in a range close to the all-time peak of 2.12 hit in July 2015.

It all comes following strong recent U.S GDP data and after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives released plans on Thursday for a tax overhaul they believe will help lift the economy.

U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) http://reut.rs/2zaKAT2

U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) http://tmsnrt.rs/2z8nMDF

4/ITALIAN BANKS JOB

Italy's biggest banks, including UniCredit <CRDI.MI>, Intesa <ISP.MI> and Banco BPM <BAMI.MI>, report their latest earnings and they could make encouraging reading following the euro zone-wide pick-up in growth and a strong rally in Italian debt over the last month.

It certainly seems a long time since last year's bail out of problem child Monte dei Paschi di Siena <BMPS.MI>. It is now back in the market, and the main Italian banks are comfortably outperforming their euro zone peers in share performance <.SX7E> in 2017, so the results round should be telling.

Italy's UniCredit says $21 bln bad loan sale proceeding as planned

Monte dei Paschi welcomed back by market but below rescue price

5/ VENEZUELA RESTRUCTURING

After what feels like years of speculation, OPEC member Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro wants to restructure the ailing country's foreign debt.

Maduro has invited Venezuelan bondholders to a Nov. 13 meeting in Caracas to discuss the matter, although getting clearance from the compliance department could be interesting for the bankers involved.

Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who is on a U.S. blacklist for alleged drug trafficking, said the country remained committed to paying all its debt but wanted to reformulate terms with creditors, which is likely to mean some lively bouts of price discovery.

Venezuela calls creditors to debt restructuring talks

Venezuelan eurobonds drop nearly 10 points in price, yields soar

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