by Chris Becker.
Remember to read “Trading Week“, published Saturday morning, to put these events and ideas in context.
Some good volatility on local markets today, with the S&P/ASX200 closing up 13 points to 4314 points, continuing to consolidate after getting ahead of itself last week:
The Nikkei 225 was up 0.7% to 9181 points, with Chinese markets continuing in the red although the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite diverged for most of the day.
After the release of the trade balance figures earlier today, the AUD dropped sharply, consolidated in arvo trade almost getting to 1.02 against the USD, before taking this evening, down to 1.016 before the open of Euro markets. Aussie bonds are stable before the Budget tonight, yields falling by 1 basis points on the 10 years to 3.4%, prices still on a tear:
Commodities continue to look weak, particularly precious metals, with gold falling 0.4% alongside silver (down 1.2%), losing $7.50 to $1632USD an ounce whilst in AUD terms it was flat at $1605 per ounce.
Euro-bizzaro-land
European equity markets have opened, with most flat, but the French CAC down nearly 1% at the open. Bond markets are quiet for now, although UK gilts and German bunds are seeing very strong bids, and peripheral dirty linen are slipping…
The dataflow tonight begins with the German industrial production numbers, with the market looking for a 0.7% increase for March, for a -1.1% change over the year. This could surprise on the upside, given the stonking result from the manufacturers orders I covered earlier this morning.
In the US we will see small business confidence and two weekly snapshots of retail sales (Redbook and Goldman Store sales).
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