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MORNING BID AMERICAS-Consumer check, however don't forget France and Japan

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and international markets by Alun John.

How U.S. consumers are feeling is the concern for today, though it could be one of those fairly rare celebrations when it's advancements in Europe and Asia that are driving the macro photo.

The University of Michigan's customer belief survey is due and last month's reading was at a six-month low.

It will be fascinating to see whether last month's cooler inflation has had much of a result, though it is likely to be too soon for individuals to have actually discovered, and the data is rather choppy anyway.

Still, it'll be a practical read on the state of the U.S. customer - which has actually supplied the non-AI leg of equities' current strong efficiency - and could likewise come with a second-order result for markets as people hypothesize about what it can tell us about the state of mind ahead of November's governmental election.

The election that has got markets talking today, however, is the one for the French legislature called by President Emmanuel Macron after a bruising loss in the weekend's. European Parliament vote to Marine Le Pen's reactionary National. Rally.

The registered nurse is leading the polls for the first round of. parliamentary ballot on June 30, and, even more complicating the. picture, political parties representing the French left-wing. said Thursday they had actually reached an arrangement to form a 'Popular. Front'.

This has left Macron's camp having a hard time to make headway, and. is alarming markets.

French stocks are down 4.5% for the week, at the time of. composing, on track for their biggest weekly drop given that September. 2022, with banks particularly hard hit.

The spread in between French and German bond yields - the extra. yield investors want in exchange for handling more threat - has. broadened by 27 basis points this week, and is at its largest considering that. 2017.

Not adding reassurance, Financing Minister Bruno Le Maire when. asked on franceinfo radio on Friday whether the current. political circumstance in the nation could result in a financial. crisis, stated 'yes'.

Likewise on Friday, the Bank of Japan stated it would start. trimming its huge bond purchases, and reveal an in-depth plan. next month on reducing its nearly $5 trillion balance sheet.

While this is another step towards relaxing its enormous. monetary stimulus, markets had anticipated the reserve bank to move. this month, and this surprise sent out the yen weaker.

The dollar reached as high as 158.25 yen, its highest since. late April when Japanese authorities entered markets to. prop up their currency.

Also in Asia, financiers are watching China's reserve bank,. which deals with a looming test of its willpower to suppress the financial. stability risks it sees in a rallying bond market.

Secret developments that ought to supply more direction to U.S. markets in the future Friday:

* Fed Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee. speaks

* Uni of Michigan June study

* United States import/export rates

(source: Reuters)