Not the Prince
Trading Day covers the relevant moves in the Asian stock, commodity, debt and currency markets highlighting trading ideas and investment opportunities. Remember to read “Trading Week“, published Saturday morning, to put these events and ideas in context.
A quick update today – its Friday after all! Another relatively slow day across Asian markets, until this afternoon when news of Japanese easing (another lazy $120billion) saw quotes screens gyrating madly. And just now, in reaction to the S&P downgrade of Spain, peripheral bonds and European markets are being sold off.
Before we get to that, let’s check out the local market, the the S&P/ASX200, which slipped today, down 0.3% or 13 points to 4362 points, finishing another week above the 200 day moving average, continuning its breakout:
The Nikkei 225 finished down further, off 0.4% after spiking in the middle of the session, to 9520 points, the SSE Composite closed down 0.3% at 2396 points, whilst the Hang Seng was also down 0.7% at 20661 points, falling sharply near the close in response to the European open.
The AUD is proving resilient still, currently at 1.0371 having almost reached 1.04 overnight against the USD. The Euro however has slumped, falling from 1.324 to 1.317, where it remains at the moment, as the Dollar Index (DXY) surges back above 79 points to 79.2:
The real story was in Aussie 10 year bonds today, with huge support buying up the cleanest sheet in the dirty laundry basket, yields falling nearly 8 pips to 3.64% whilst Japanese 10 years were down 2 pips on the $120 billion easing, unbelievably (to those who don’t understand monetary systems) down to 0.88%. Yes, still under 1% for 10 years…..
Commodities were not mixed today, they were off, although gold was basically steady during the Asian session, currently at $1653USD an ounce whilst in AUD terms it was down to $1583 per ounce.
Crude is currently off, with NYMEX WTI in the lead, down 0.6% to $103.90 a barrel, ICE Brent closely behind down 0.4% at $119.44 – not quite risk off there, but I’m watching closely and will report tomorrow morning in Trading Week.
The Futures
European equity markets have all opened in the red, down 1-2% across the board, with Spanish bonds touching 6% yields before firming. Tonight’s data will revolve soundly around the US Q1 advanced GDP print, with consensus crowd expecting a 2.5% quarterly change, below the 3% printed last quarter.
You can find our Economic Calendar here.
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