By Chris Becker
The release of the latest Fed minutes didn’t provide the big catalyst expected by markets as the earnings season started with a surprisingly good result from Alcoa. A bigger deal, literally, was the news of an epic takeover/merger of Shell and BG which temporarily gave European bourses a lift before a reversal in sentiment sent them all back into the red. The other news was a huge surprise uplift in crude inventories in the US which sent both crude markets tanking nearly 6% or so.
Recapping the Asian session yesterday it was green across the boards with the HK Hang Seng surging nearly 4% and the mainland bourse, the Shanghai Composite, up another 1% almost squeezing over 4000 points and the magic 100% year on year target. The Nikkei lifted 0.7% as the Yen strengthened after its recent uplift, continuing its daily breakout: