by Chris Becker
Asian stock markets are generally higher with the local ASX200 the only fly in the ointment as traders pre-position before Trump’s speech to Congress later tonight. This is likely to cause a big flood of inflationistas to bid up the dollar as the Fed’s hand is likely to be forced sooner rather than later.
The Shanghai Composite is up only slightly after its long lunch break, currently up 0.2% to 3236 points. The Hang Seng Index is dead flat, still below the 24000 points level as the daily chart is still suggesting what looks like a top here as the low daily moving average comes under threat:
Japanese stocks are doing much better as expected as Yen weakened appreciably against the USD overnight, although this reversed slightly today. Even still the Nikkei closed up 0.5% higher to finish at 19,200 points. The hourly chart for USDJPY shows how the strong move overnight has retraced only slightly to the 112.50 level setting up for a potential fall later tonight if Trump disappoints:
S&P futures are still bubbling higher in anticipation suggesting another record high tonight:
The ASX200 had another dour session, closing down 0.2% today with this time gold stocks being the big drag alongside other engineering service stocks except Worleyparsons, who revealed a failed takeover bid from last year. The market lost 12 points to be at 5712 points, still well below the 5800 point resistance zone.
The Aussie dollar moved higher immediately on the Sydney open, but still not above the 77 handle against USD. The last couple of days has seen a congestion zone between a 76.70 and the 77 handle form in anticipation of tonights release:
The data calendar continues the busy week with a huge slew of releases in the US – consumer confidence, 4Q GDP, advanced goods trade balance and of course Trump’s speech to Congress.