Macro Afternoon

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Kayaking in the Cook Islands, 2019: Photo by H. Becker

Most Asian stock markets are struggling to find direction today after the tepid sessions on Wall Street overnight as traders remained confused to the response of the latest US unemployment print. Bitcoin is still relatively steady at the $19200 level, while gold has leapt to a two week high, finally back above its pre-breakdown levels above $1860USD per ounce:

The Shanghai Composite is struggling to stay in the green, currently up a handful of points going into the close at 3418 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is down by nearly 0.5% to 26363 points. Japanese stock markets are also moving nowhere again, this time with the Nikkei 225 finishing about 0.1% lower to 26513 points while the USDJPY pair is struggling to stabilise after its big roundtrip overnight, currently hovering just on the 104 handle:

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The ASX200 was able to eke out a minor gain, lifting 0.2% to finish at 6687 points while the Australian dollar has stalled out once again, still holding above the 74 handle but looking somewhat overstretched:

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Eurostoxx and S&P futures are pulling back again to be below the Monday opening levels as momentum wanes on the four hourly chart of the S&P500 from its recent historical high:

The economic calendar ramps up with Eurowide 3Q GDP plus the closely watched German ZEW survey.

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