Im sara eisen. Im wilfred frost. Very good morning to you from me as well. Before we check in on the markets, four Big International stories were watching. China getting hit with a credit gown grade overnight. We have the latest market reaction. The uk upping its Security Threat level to critical following monday nights terror attack. Opec about to kick off a meeting in vienna. President trump is at the vatican this hour after meeting with pope francis. More on all of those big stories straight ahead. First lets check in on the markets this morning. U. S. Equity futures after a mini gain yesterday for stocks. S p closed higher by 0. 2 , following a trend of fractional moves, mostly higher. Looks like futures are indicated higher again. Dow futures up 12. S p up 2. 5. Nasdaq futures up 11 points a bit of a defensive tone to yesterdays dane wigain. The tenyear hovering around the 2. 28 level. A bit of buying of treasuries, saw that yesterday. The economic reports have been kind of mixed. The new home sales number for april was weaker than expected after a jump in march. Well wait to see what data showed today. Overall its been a mixed picture at least in the u. S. The data has been very strong, notably in europe. Going back to the u. S. Markets, underwhelming rally, but four days in a row of that, such that last wednesdays big 2 decline has all but been eradicated. The resilience of the markets. The question is once earnings season finished, does one of those resilience factors get taken away . Well have to see what happens at that point. Less focused on washington with President Trumps trip abroad. Top Global Market story. Moodys downgrading chinas Credit Rating from a1 to aa3. They cite sern concerns over a slowing economy and increasing debt. All things considered, chinas debt to gdp figure is more like 200 . This is a significant downgrade. The first for china by a significant Rating Agency since 1989. It hasnt dampened asian markets. We are still higher across the board. Albeit only slightly in hong kong. Hong kong has been on fire. Japan 0. 6 . European trade, given that it was mixed yesterday. Kind of mixed today. Yesterday, the declines yesterday, excuse me, last week the declines in europe were more pronounced than the u. S. , down around a percent. Today just positive for the ftse 100. The rest in the red. Paul donovan, a frequent guest, one of the Credit Rating agencies, no one cares which one, lowered chinas Credit Rating from something to something else. Nobody cares what. Theres a flicker of interest but no real new information. We know china has had debt levels and has been trying to keep its gdp in check for a while. Its always good to get paul donovans sarcasm in the morning. These are reactive, not predictive, not proactive. The headline is we think growth will be slightly lower than what is forecasted. The euro has been remarkably strong lately. Highest level since november. Its backed off from the highs. About 112. 60 yesterday. It is going strong a bit. The dollar is firmer against the japanese yen. Sitting below 112. The pound is up by a quarter of a percent, even after the terror warning, the Terror Threat was raised to a critical level. The highest level yesterday. Did see the pound sell off a bit on the back of the Manchester Attack the day before. We are watching that currency sitting below just 1. 30. As for gold prices. Gold is down by a third of a percent on the back of some dollar strength. As for oil prices, they have been strong. Up for five days in a row. Wti is back above 51 a barrel. They were weaker yesterday, but that turned around during the u. S. Session. Were hovering just below 52. Brent 54. 52. Before we stick with the old december cushion, quickly going back to the currencies market. Yesterday was a rebound day for the dollar. The euro strength just continues remarkably hitting that high of 112. 67. Highs not seen since november. Its that you at the moment. Intraday yesterday there was another high hit. We have a meeting of the ecb on june 8th. Opec members are about to kick off a big meets in austria. Steve sedgwick is in vienna. Good morning to you. Good morning. This is really interesting. The opec group has a successful strategy on its hand, believe it or not, despite the fact that oil prices netnet have not moved much over the sixmonth period. The problem is its not manifesting itself in inventories in nations. It is changing inventories in the producing nations. While they have cut production, they have also kept on exporting. In order to see the global inventories come down, what we need to see is a continuation of it. Its all very well doing it the First Quarters of the year, these are peak demand areas. Its interesting to see if they can have the discipline to have a six or ninemonth extension or whether they will see deeper cuts. A lot of things opec cant control at the moment, including they cant control the fact that in japan, germany, the u. S. , three of the biggest users, youve seen declining growth and demand. They cant control the fact that the shale production has been way above expectations. They expected it to be stuck around 8. 6 Million Barrels a day. Shale is producing over 9 Million Barrels a day. The lack of demand, other producers filling in the gap, thats the problem for opec. The strategy is kind of working, just needs more time. Well see what happens in the next 24 hours. Lots of things out of their control, but what is in their control is how long they do extend that production limit for a time frame there, possibly six to ninemonth extension. What do you think is priced in . What is a boost for the oil price today if they extend it more than expected . Has to be more than that six to ninemonth extension. The sifr doe low demand First Quarter every year. If you extend it to september, you are not factoring in the First Quarter of next year which is quite catastrophic for the price. You have to have your nine months in place. I think you would need depositioner cuts. Im not sure how they do deeper cuts. The iranians and iowa rack rac want deeper cuts. Unless saudi wants to cut more of their own oil, will we get deeper cuts. Steve sedgwick in vienna. The other thing opec cannot control is the u. S. Is a swing producer. New developments out of the uk following the terror attack. Lets get to willment marks in manchester. We were talking about it yesterday. The possibility they would raise the threat level and Prime Minister theresa may has. Whats the impact . Thats right. Just here this morning we have seen counterterroism officers moving inside this vast police cord than is ringing the center around the Manchester Arena. Manchester police say the focus is whether this 22yearold, salman abedi acted on his lone because they cannot rule out other people were involved. Thats why the lthreat level ha been raised. Last night theresa may explained what that means. Is now concluded based on todays investigations that the threat level should be increased for the time being from severe to critical. This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent. Were getting a bit more detail about salman abedi, the british home secretary, amber rudd, said he likely traveled back from libya in recent weeks. The French Interior minister said according to french and British Intelligence agencies, that this man also traveled to syria likely and did have a relationship with isis. There is going to be a Huge Police Presence in cities like manchester for some time. It looks like more Armed Police Officers will be coming up. The military will also be guarding major installations like downing street and buckingham palace. I knows there been events canceled in Manchester Arena itself for obvious reasons. What about around the rest of the country. Does critical suggest that events need to stop taking place . Do they continue regardless . What the police have said is that there is likely to be increased Police Presence at smaller events where you would not typically see police at all. The larger sporting events. We have the f. A. Cup final coming up and a rugby game this weekend, a large number of Armored Police there, which you wouldnt typically say. Willem, thanks. The other thing to watch today is the europa cup final, its Manchester United versus ajax. It is taking place in stockholm. Soccer . Soccer. But its important Manchester United one of the big sort of flag carriers of the city of manchester. It will be taking place in a major match tonight. Moving on to todays wall street agenda. More data on housing and the fed. April existing home sales out at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. At 2 00 p. M. , the minutes from the fed meeting earlier this months. Dallas fed president , rob kaplan and Neel Kashkari a speaking earlier today. Lowes and fitiffany report befe the bell. Shares of toshiba jump 8 on Western Digital is offering 18 billion to buy the memory chip business. Intuit reporting better than expected results. The company raising its fullyear guidance following a hardfought tax season. The strong results come amid that companies could be hurt by President Trumps proposal to simplify the tax code. Shares of container store, its earnings beat by a wide mar jet. They included a Restructuring Plan which include layoffs at stores. The market cap around 2 200 million. The fda has approved mercks drug to treat cancer in adults and children who carry specific genetic traits. The drug was previously approved to treat head and neck companieses. Shares of universal Health Services are lower on reports that the fbi launched probes into the hospital operator. Buzzfeed is looking into whether the hospital kept patients for as long as insurance would cover them rather than medical need. A new York State Appeals Court has ruled common mobile mu exxonmobil must turn over records about how long it knew about global warning. Again, no real move in exxon share prices. When we come back, were talking grains and grain alcohol. Two big m a stories developing overnight. Well tell you the details when we return. First a look at european markets this morning. The ftse 100 slightly higher. France and germany slightly lower. Back on Worldwide Exchange in a couple minutes. Since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. Okay. Im plugged into equities trade confirmed and i have Global Access 24 7. Meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. Visit learnfuturestoday. Com to see what adding futures can do for you. Welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. Lets get you up to speed on the market action. Four days in a row of gains for the dow. Yesterday just a small gain of 0. 2 . The gains in terms of Sector Performance a little bit risk off. A little bit of a careful rally. Consumer staples doing well. Also utilities. Banks have done well and financials have had four days of gains in a row. That takes us to level ts that would pretty much erase that one day blip. Also the less focus that weve had on washington dilemmas given President Trumps travels abroad. Hes in the vatican this morning. This morning it looks like a similar picture, higher, albeit only slightly. Oil is likely to be in focus today with opec Oil Ministers meeting in vienna. Oil has had a decent run of late. Its bounced a bit yesterday. Another half percent today. Well above 50. Wti at 51. 75. All focus on whether the opec m ministers will expend the supply cut. A big developing m a story overnight. Constellation brands making an approach to acquire jack daniels owner brownforman. Brownforman is not interested in selling but informed its board of Constellation Brands interest. I was reading some Research Notes overnight on this one. Its a staples brand. Bonnie hertzog says hard to imagine imagine where this deal gets done. First of all, they dont want to sell. Constellation is a closely held company by sands. She says the upshot is its encouraging con tell lastellati willing to go bold. Either way what is fascinating about the sector, weve seen lots of consolidation both in the drinks market and in terms of foods, snacks. Its kind of necessary for these guys to deliver the growth targets and that we have these attempts to bolt on more acquisitions and lower costs. Constellation has been a rock star in this space, thanks in part to its big mexican beer unit. Which is modello. A nice one. Corona. Usually when we talk these stories we get to see pictures on the screen of delicious alcohol. Other m a news, glencore making a takeover approach to the u. S. Grains trader, bunge. The ft says bun je is not currently engaged in talks with glencore, however it rallied yesterday. Its off 5 today. Still ahead, President Trump meets the pope. Well have the details and the pictures of the facetoface meeting next. First, as we head to break, heres todays National Weather forecast from nbcs bill karins. Good morning. The big weather headline of the day is the southeast. Severe weather, potential for flooding continues. 38 Million People at risk. Literally all of the carolinas, georgia and florida. A Huge Population center. A lot of cities. When the thunderstorms roll through, we will get the airport and travel delays. Heres the timing of everything. Going throughout the late afternoon, this is when thunderstorms pop up. A line through Central Florida a line through george. A couple of strong storms heading through the carolincaro. That will continue as we go throughout the evening. The strongest storms could produce isolated tornadoes. Some of the rainfall will be exiting during the Morning Hours throughout areas of new york city southwards, and a warmup for the middle of the country. Thats your Business Travel forecast. More Worldwide Exchange when we come back. E babys room wont build itself. And her paw wont heal on its own. Were all working forward to something. Synchrony financial can help your customers make it happen sooner. So she can plug into her dreams. And theyll have a new addition for their new addition. Whatever youre working forward to, even if its chasing squirrels, Synchrony Financial can help you get there. Welcome back. If stocks hold to gains here, this could be the fifth day in a row. Dow futures up 12. S p up 2. Nasdaq futures are up 12 as well. Well watch for the fed minutes this afternoon. Some notes from the last meeting, for instance to see how they characterize the weakness in the First Quarter and what they expect to do going forward. The remarkable resilience. S p crossed the 2400 level yesterday. Closed below there. Just a few points away from another record close. As for action in europe. A mixed to flat picture. Strength for the ftse 100 in the uk, just a tenth of a percent there. The dax down. The currency market ahead of those fed minutes, ahead of more housing data this morning after weak new home sales data yesterday. The dollar firmer against the japanese yen. And the euro firmer against the dollar which has been a continuing trend. The president continuing his first trip overseas. Pope francis welcoming trump to the vatican, shaking his hand before they met facetoface in the pontiffs study. It was a highly anticipated meeting as the two men have disagreed in the past. During the president ial campaign, france criticized trump for wanting to build walls. This meeting, as we can see from the pictures, far more amicable. Then he goes to brussels, hell go to nato, also fougraug with tension after criticizing some nato members. I think the nato part of the trip is the highlight of the european leg of this. This is highly significant for religious religions, but not least to mention the fact hes now met leaders of islam and judaism and now catholicism. The trifecta. Opening your arms to all those faiths. You have to commend him for that. A lot of symbolism there. The Cleveland Cavaliers are on the verge of a Third Straight meeting in the nba finals with the warriors. The cavs went up three games to one last night in the Eastern Conference Finals beating the seceltics 11299. Lebron james had 34 points, following one of the worst playoff performances of his career. Game five will be tomorrow. Everybody knew this would be lebron and steph curry. The intrigue is in the final games. Curry has something to prove after he lost last year. Im looking forward to that now. Hes got kevin durant now. I think im more of a nets fan these days. Nets are terrible. I can get better tickets. Still ahead, opec meeting, key commentary and a downgrade for china well set you up for the market moving events. Worldwide exchange will be right back. Good morning. Moodys downgrading chinas Credit Rating for the first time in nearly 30 years. Oil front and center as opec ministers g