Another mixed day across Asia with the latest BOJ interest rate meeting rattling Japanese stocks somewhat while the USD remains weak against Asian and commodity currencies going into tomorrow night’s Fed meeting. Bitcoin finally made a move this afternoon after stalling overnight as it breaks towards the $55K level in light of Tesla’s investment:
Chinese markets remain in a funk with the Shanghai Composite falling sharply before recovering after the lunch break to close nearly 0.2% lower to 3437 points while the Hang Seng Index put in a scratch session, lifting a few points higher to almost get back above 29000 points. Japanese markets pulled back even sharper however on the BOJ non-decision meeting today with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.4% lower at 28991 points while the USDJPY pair was quite sanguine, slowly lifting above the 108 handle but not yet making a decisive breakout:
The ASX200 again sold off mildly, losing only 0.2% but still finished above the 7000 point barrier at 7033 points, while the Australian dollar tried valiantly to move above the 78 handle but was unchanged as traders get ready for tomorrow’s untimely and late inflation print:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are up slightly going into the London open, with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 showing price heading to new record highs above the 4170 point level after the recent bounce from trailing ATR support at 4130 points as momentum goes nicely overbought:
The economic calendar has just the one major release to watch carefully tonight – US consumer confidence.