Macro Afternoon

Advertisement

by Chris Becker

Caution and prepositioning for some major macro events over the next 24 hours in the Asian session today, with the Chinese and Australian trade figures (but I repeat myself) not causing any ripples.

In mainland China the Shanghai Composite is up slightly going into the close at 314 points, trying to build on its breakout yesterday above key support at the 3100 point level. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is up slightly too, taking back yesterday’s losses to be just above 26,000 points as its trend remains intact. The next target remains the 2015 high at 28000:

Japanese stocks retreated on a rising Yen, with both major markets off around 0.4% or so, the Nikkei 225 remaining well below the 20,000 points level as caution reigns. The USDJPY pair tiny bounce last night has evaporated with a fall back to the 109.50 level as safe haven buyers step in. The next level to watch is support at 109.20 for another breakdown:

Advertisement

S&P futures are up slightly but I can’t help but see a bearish rising wedge on the daily chart here:

Advertisement

The ASX200 gapped down at the open but recovered during the day to finish a few points higher at 5676, as traders position for tonights slew of macro events. The trade figures were behind the recovery, with a small rally in financial stocks dragged down by energy stocks falling on the 5% overnight drop in oil prices.

The Aussie dollar is hovering at its May high above the 75 handle, with traders still loving the RBA hold and the subsequent GDP print, but this remains slightly overdone. I’m watching the low moving average at the 75.20 level as a potential short point here as the series of four hourly highs is lower and lower:

Advertisement

The data calendar is packed tonight. UK election, ECB meeting, Comey testimony. Oh, the new Mummy movie is out too…