by Chris Becker
While there are worries about screens of red on stock markets across Asia, its the bond selloff that remains most worrying as German bunds fell to near two year lows, with yields spiking across most of the major issues. The BOJ tried to forestall the moves in Asia by shoring up yields in Japanese issues, sending the Yen down, but its not having much effect.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite is only up slightly, stable at 3211 points holding above previous resistance at 3200 points. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is off 0.4% and just hanging on to the daily ATR support line at the 25300 level:
Japanese stocks are in negative territory even as Yen weakened against USD. The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.4% to be well below resistance 19,918 points. The USDJPY pair has made a new high after failing yesterday and it poised to breakout here to well above the 114 handle as traders position for a solid NFP tonight:
S&P futures are steady, but the post symmetrical triangle fallout on the four hourly chart suggests that critical support at the 2400 points level will be under tremendous pressure tonight:
The ASX200 sold off throughout the day to finish nearly 1% lower at just above 5700 points. Once again, price seems stuck around the 200 day moving average, but tonights NFP print could put the first nail in the coffin on this bull run and start a wider correction.
The Aussie dollar has been unable to make a comeback after its recent slump, still unable to breach the 76 handle against USD. Support at 75.70 may not hold here if US data is too strong tonight, even if the falling wedge here on the 4 hourly chart does suggest a bullish breakout:
The data calendar finishes the week big with nonfarm payrolls (NFP) or US unemployment for the month.