Kayaking in the Cook Islands, 2019: Photo by H. Becker
Record death tolls from coronavirus in the US is putting a dampener on risk spirits with most Asian stock markets in retreat or treading water as currency traders await tonight’s ECB meeting. Bitcoin is slowly deflating again, down below the $18400 level, while gold is trying to get back on track after its steep falls overnight, currently treading water at the $1840USD per ounce level:
The Shanghai Composite is starting to build some positive momentum going into the close, currently up 0.3% to 3383 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index has again gone the other way, down nearly 0.4% to 26405 points. Japanese stock markets are putting in scratch sessions with the Nikkei 225 finishing where it started while the USDJPY pair is again trying to push higher to get back above trailing ATR resistance at the 104.40 level:
The ASX200 was the worst in the region, down 0.6% to take back all of the previous session’s gain to finish back below the 6700 point level while the Australian dollar has lifted strongly again, almost matching its previous overnight high at the 74.70 level:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are trying to push higher again with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 shows a weak attempt so far to clawback the losses from last night with momentum still negative:
The economic calendar includes the latest ECB meeting and interest rate decision, followed by the latest US CPI print and initial jobless claims.