Chris Becker

The Israeli war on Iran has dominated the final session of the trading week here in Asia with all share markets finishing in the red, with a very small bid towards the USD for a safe haven bid, except gold.

A stronger than expected US initial jobless claims print  – the third week in a row that was well above expectations – gave bond and currency markets a bit of a shakeup but was overshadowed by increased Iranian tensions with the US and the plainly not-a-deal US-China trade deal.

Middle East tensions are dominating risk taking here in Asia with most share markets finishing in the red, not helped by what looks like a “non-deal” deal from the ongoing US/China talks, regardless of what the Trump regime claim has come to pass.

A weaker than expected US inflation print overshadowed the not-a-deal US-China trade talk announcement from the Trump regime that looks almost exactly like a return to the early April settings.

Asian share markets are having a much more relaxed session across the region as speculation of a possibly positive outcome from the US-China trade talks builds although this might be goosed tonight as European and US share futures are slowly taking a dive.

Another light news session overnight as speculation mounts of potential trade deals and tariff pullbacks with US-China talks progressing.

The first session following the release of the latest monthly US jobs print is usually benign and that’s what we had across most risk markets overnight as speculation about what the Federal Reserve will do until the next NFP print calmed down, sending the USD slightly lower against the majors.

Asian share markets are having a buoyant session across the region on the back of the “just okay” US jobs report from Friday night and some further indication that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep easing while the ECB and BOE look set to finish or have already done so.

Friday night saw the release of the latest US jobs print – the non-farm payrolls or NFP for May – which came in on expectations although revisions and internal numbers show building weakness from the start of the year.