Asian stocks were mixed, with Hong Kong seeing the highest levels since November last year, amid hopes of a pickup in China’s economy. Nikkei and ASX are down, as oil prices generated a drag on stocks. Tuesday’s report by the American Petroleum Institute showed a larger than expected build in crude oil inventories which pushed prices lower.  The German DIW institute said updated forecasts show the Brexit will reduce growth by 0.3% next year.

The American Petroleum Institute Reported Mixed Inventory Outlook

On Tuesday after the closing bell the American Petroleum Institute released its report on oil inventories.  This comes ahead of the EIA report which is scheduled to be released on Wednesday at 10:30 AM ET.  According to the API, crude oil inventories increased by 2 million barrels which was more than expected. This was offset by a robust 3.9-million-barrel contraction in gasoline inventories which was accompanied by a 1.5-million-barrel decline in distillate inventories.  Overall, the API reported an inventory draw in crude oil and products.

It appears that Germany was particularly hit by Brexit scenario. The Berlin based DIW institute said updated forecasts from its own experts and experts at London based NIESR show that the Brexit scenario will shave 0.1% points of growth this year and 0.3% next year, as the “probably increase in future trade costs as well as uncertainty about the U.K.’s economic developments will most likely reduce companies’ propensity to invest”. This will be hitting Germany, which is strongly focused on capital goods exports and apart from the U.K. Germany will be the country most hit by the Brexit decision, according to the report.

U.S. MBA mortgage market index jumped 7.1%, in addition to a 2.6% gain in the purchase index and a 9.6% surge in the refinancing index for the week ended August 5. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped another 2 basis points to 3.65% for that week in a relatively muted reaction to the solid July payrolls report.