Kayaking in the Cook Islands, 2019: Photo by H. Becker
Asian stocks are struggling to gain traction at the start of what is likely to be a low volume trading, following the less than stellar performance on Wall Street on Friday and the weekend news of more economic lockdowns across Europe. Bitcoin is levitating to new heights yet again while gold has pushed through the $1900USD per ounce barrier for the first time since early November, running with the weak USD trend:
The Shanghai Composite is the standout, up nearly 0.5% going into the close at 3412 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is dog padding with a scratch session, down a handful of points to 26473. Japanese stock markets remain in stall mode with a mild selloff on the Nikkei 225, closing 0.3% lower to 26665 points while the USDJPY pair has held a steady course at just below the mid 103 level, remaining in its medium term downtrend:
The ASX200 also tread water and did almost nothing today, down about 0.1% to 6669 points, keeping well clear of the 6700 point level after its poor finish last week. The Australian dollar was pushed a lot lower on the open, heading well below the 76 handle as the NSW COVID outbreak gathers apace before Christmas:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are in retracement mode again, with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 shows it still not able to clear the 3700 resistance level decisively, even though there is some paltry stimulus finally coming out of Congress:
The economic calendar starts the week very slowly as we head into the quietest part of the trading year, with just a few Treasury bond auctions going on.