by Chris Becker
Its negative interest rates for everybody! Deflation to win! So there it is, another major economy goes into negative interest rate mode, as the Bank of Japan enacts a -0.1% rate as part of its ongoing QQE. This has come at just the right time for risk markets, which were already rallying on oversold conditions. The event overshadowed the Eurozone core CPI print, which ticked up slightly to 1% year on year – Japan had a 0.8% rise as households continued to reign in spending. In the US, the 4Q GDP print came in a little lower than expected, as did Canada’s. Economic reality aside, markets were ebullient with 2%+ rises on all bourses – except the local ASX200 which should play catchup today.
Recapping Asia’s session yesterday where the Shanghai Composite is trying to get out of crash mode, falling 6% for the week, even after rallying 3% on Friday. Price must come up above terminal support at 2900 points and close above there but we’re running out of time as the Chinese New Year approaches as everyone exits, stage right:
