Macro Afternoon

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A slightly better day here in Asia, but risk markets are still listless given the lack of follow through on Wall Street overnight from its long weekend holiday. A higher USD, possibly in the wake of higher bond yields as Treasury auctions mount up quicker than Trump’s record deficit spending, should help other domestic markets as Euro, Yen and Aussie slip, but there is no evidence yet that a full risk recovery is underway.

S&P futures have retreated again after last night’s very mixed session and is slowly approaching key support at 2700 points, which bear (sic) watching tonight:

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Japanese stocks came back a little today after the near 1% loss yesterday, helped somewhat with Yen weakening today as the Nikkei 225 putting on a fraction of a percent to 21953 points. This is looking stalled in the least, so watch out the daily lows of the last three sessions at 21800 or so for any breakdown signs:

The USDJPY pair is now gaining a lot of momentum as the shorts are cleared out, lifting above trailing ATR resistance to be just below the 108 handle.The stronger USD is playing its hand here but there’s significant resistance above at the 108.50 level:

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The ASX200 had yet another scratch day, finishing 3 points higher to 5943 points. The lack of direction in overseas markets is providing no selling or buying pressure here locally. The Aussie dollar however is falling sharply after its intial selloff at the start of the week. Currently at the 78.50 midpoint level, its looking set to take out all of last weeks gains, at least giving the currency traders some opportunities as stocks go flat:

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The economic calendar continues with more preliminary manufacturing PMI data, this time across Europe and the US, and we also get the FOMC minutes to pour over.