Overnight

Asian shares traded higher Tuesday as fear about Brexit subsided somewhat and oil prices rallied led by the Japanese yen which traded at a session high of 103.57 against the dollar before turning back down slightly.

The Nikkei 225 was up in early trading 0.5% after falling earlier as the yen gained strength.The Hang Send was up 0.47%. the Australian ASX 220 edged a bit higher, 0.11%, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.26% and the Korean Kospi was down 0.14%. Japaneses exporters were mixed with Nissan shares down 0.45%, Sony up 1.26% and Toyota stayed flat.

After a big rise overnight of 3% oil backed off a bit with global Brent down nearly 0.5% at $50.42 at mid-day. Part of the rally in prices was owing to a draw down at Cushng, Oklahoma, some were saying. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is set Tuesday to give her two-day appearance before Congress, but ahead of Brexit it's highly unlikely she will reveal much in the way interest rates are going and just when.

In the eyes of many the shooting of the UK MP this close to the election still has an odor. According to several reports, other female MPs had warned earlier, in some cases weeks earlier, about the possible threat to female members of parliament. Given the harshness of the debate about going versus staying and the fact that the victim was an ardent supporter of staying in the EU, some are wondering how someone with a weapon was able to pull the shooting off, not to mention the level
of security around the victim.

As you might expect, with the rally in stocks and the easing of tension over the possible Brexit vote, gold softened overnight to trade down 0.22 percent at $1,286.90 an ounce while government bond yields rose as the risk-on again trades seemed to gather momentum.