There were 2 major data/news/comments that actually moved markets last night, instead of being crutches for financial journalists to hang noise on: the OECD telling the Europeans to bolster their bailout fund, and US consumer confidence at 70.2, below expectations at 70.9 but still elevated. A small Italian debt auction and the release of the Case-Shiller S&P House price index for January rounded out the picture, but it was enough to take the wind out of the sails of risk.
Let’s have a look at the detail before the open of the local markets – remember to read my weekly analysis of all major macro markets in Trading Week to put this daily noise in context.
The UK FTSE was off 0.5% to 5869, the German DAX finishing flat 7078 points, still above the the important 7000 level. There’s important localised data for both bourses to react to this week – CPI and GDP, so keep an eye on those prints and the ongoing ructions in peripheral debt markets.
The Euro (EUR/USD) was steady at 1.331 against the USD., whilst the AUD slipped slightly, to be 1.045 against the USD where it is at this morning at the start of Asian trading.
As a result, the USD Index rose 0.25% to 79.14, above its support level at 78 points but one to watch in the coming week.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the US bourses were sold off on the consumer confidence figures. However, this didn’t stop Apple (AAPL) which gained another 1.2% or $7.50 to $614 a share:
The S&P500 eventually lost 0.3% to 1412 points as the Dow Jones Industrial Average did the same, down 0.3% to 13,197 points.
On to the important debt markets, where the 3 major 10 year bonds I follow US 10 year T-Notes, German bunds and Aussies (Kangaroo) were all bid up on the slight risk-off move with yields falling. The biggest mover was in Aussie’s by pips. The results were 2.18%, 1.89% and 4.11% respectively, with the Aussie below the cash rate (at 4.25%).
To commodities – first, copper was flat after a big move last night, whilst in energies, Brent was up 0.5% to $125.50USD a barrel with WTI basically flat U$107 per barrel. Heres Brent:
Gold (in USD) went as high as $1698 an ounce, before coming back down to $1680 where it remains at the start of session here in Asia.
On these poor leads the S&P/ASX200 index futures have slipped before the open, down 10 points or more to 4290 points, with the New Zealand NXZ50 opening flat, losing 2 points to 3481 points not providing much of a lead for how the Asian session will go. There’s is no local or Asian data today, except for the release of the RBA’s Financial Stability Review.
My Trading Day post will cover the Asian market session and the “ASX8” stocks after the close in the afternoon.
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