Macro Afternoon

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The tide may be changing with Chinese stocks rebounding to finish the week on a sweeter rather than sour note as optimism around the trade talks with the US climbs. The Australian dollar is inching its way back to the 70 cent level while Yen and other safe havens remain stable.

The Shanghai Composite has bounced over 3% to close at 2939 points, capping off a very volatile week. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index lifted modestly, closing 1% higher to 28607 points, for now stopping price slumping right down to the weekly support near the 28000 point level, but still looking very weak:

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US and Eurostoxx futures are up slightly with the four hourly chart of the S&P 500 looking to stabilise here after the recent series of lower lows as price remains well below the previous terminal resistance level at 2900 points. But that falling wedge pattern maybe signalling the return of the BTFD crowd:

Japanese share markets continued their falls, but it was essentially a scratch session with the Nikkei 225 only losing about 0.2% to finish at 21344 points. The USDJPY pair has stopped its free fall but is not finding much buying support, hovering below the 110 handle and yet not making any new session lows:

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Australian stocks finished relatively unscathed for the week, with the ASX200 climbing 0.3% or so to 6319 points and remaining in strong position. No selling in May here! The Australian dollar is trying to clawback with a surge back up to and slightly through the 70 handle but so far this is a swing play only:

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The economic calendar ends the week with a few important releases, namely the German trade balance for March plus the 1Q GDP print for the UK. Then in the America’s its Canadian unemployment and the latest CPI print for the ‘States.