Risk tones continue to stay on the defensive
US futures looked to have calmed down a little mid-way through European morning trade but are now pulling back lower again as we're about 30 mins from London midday.
S&P 500 futures are down to the lows for the day with Nasdaq futures and Dow futures also falling. That is keeping yen pairs more on the defensive too, with USD/JPY now trading to fresh session lows of 109.27.
Adding to the Wall St Journal report earlier here, CNBC also reported that there is growing support for the Fed to announce tapering in September. Just something to be wary about as we are starting to see things pick up on the day, with Jackson Hole in focus next week.
There is also the ongoing situation in Afghanistan but as Adam mentioned here (and I agree), it isn't something that likely has broader implications for the market at the moment.
That aside, the S&P 500 and Dow both still posted record highs last Friday so a pullback amid softer risk tones (good excuse for profit-taking) isn't entirely surprising.