Macro Afternoon

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Stocks were a bit unsettled across Asia today with the USD firming against major risk currencies and undollar assets, arresting a weakening trend since the start of the trading week. Traders are awaiting the outcome of this weeks Jackson Hole conference with Fed tapering still on the minds of many, with gold inverting back below the $1800USD per ounce level while Bitcoin has failed to break through its own resistance at the $50K level and is pausing here at the low $48’s instead:

Chinese stocks are diverging in fortune though, with the Shanghai Composite extending its gains, closing 0.6% higher at 3537 points while the Hang Seng Index has pulled back some 0.4% to finish at 25628 points. Japanese stocks are also in hesitation mode, with the Nikkei 225 unable to extend on its recent breakout, finishing dead flat at 27724 points:

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Australian stocks were the relative bestperformers in the region however with the ASX200 gaining 0.4% to 7531 points as the Australian dollar was unable to continue to big bounceback rally, fading slightly today to be just above the 72.40 level:

Eurostoxx and S&P futures as a result are quite flat going into the London open, as the four hourly chart of the S&P500 shows price unable to push through the 4500 point level as momentum retraces from its previous overbought status and price rolls over – but the BTFD crowd is ready and waiting:

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The economic calendar includes two big prints tonight, the closely watched German IFO survey, then US durable goods orders for July.