Japan Q2 private consumption preliminary QoQ 0.0% vs 0.5% expected; prior figure revised to 0.5% from 0.3%.

Sophie Huynh, portfolio manager and strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said Europe is more likely to be a beneficiary of AI than a developer and the auto sector stands to gain. European auto equities are currently very cheap and their upside is largely overlooked; it may take one to two years for market consensus to recognise the case. Many US consumer-driven positives are already priced in, she added, so US growth momentum is slowing while Europe is only beginning to recover.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on the 16th that a strike on the 15th in southern Lebanon killed Abu Hassan Arra, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Badr Unit. The IDF said Arra was involved in planning and directing multiple attacks on IDF troops deployed in the southern Lebanon "security zone" and for years led several Hezbollah operational units that attacked Israeli soldiers and civilians.