Macro Afternoon

Advertisement

Outside local stocks its been a solid session throughout Asia for risk markets, but US futures are pulling back as all eyes are on the US Congress passing the stimulus bill. USD is losing ground against the major currency pairs, although gold remains steady, the Aussie dollar is now above 61 cents.

The Shanghai Composite is up 1.4% to 2803 points while the Hang Seng Index is up nearly the same to 23634 points, still unable to keep above above its high moving average on the daily chart and hence still in swing mode only:

Advertisement

Japanese share markets are bouncing back from their previous falls, with the Nikkei 225 about to close 2% higher to be back above the 19000 point level, despite a much stronger Yen as the USDJPY pair continues its breakdown below its ascending triangle pattern, now heading back to last week’s breakout level at the mid 108s:

The ASX200 is the only market to retreat, as profit taking and new short positions push the market down over 3% going into the close, currently at 4933 points. Meanwhile the Aussie dollar is hurriedly getting back to overbought levels, now almost above the 61 cent level:

Advertisement

Eurostoxx and S&P futures are in a minor retreat mode, with the four hourly S&P futures chart showing the start of a rollover:

Advertisement

The economic calendar finishes the week with the latest US PCE print, which again, is backwards looking so all eyes will be on the COVID-19 (aka FreedomFlu) data and the passing of the US Congress stimulus bill.