Macro Afternoon

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Another poor effort by Asian stock markets but to be expected as both Wall Street and Europe stumbled overnight in the wake of another “surprising” high inflation print, this time in the UK, with inflation fears lingering throughout the risk complex. The USD is maintaining strength against nearly everything, although Yen is holding on to its overnight gains while the Australian dollar remains below the 73 handle and gold holds fast at the $1860USD per ounce level. Meanwhile Bitcoin is going nowhere, still hovering below the $60K level after its sharp falls at the start of the week taking it back to its previous weekly lows:

Chinese shares are down with the Shanghai Composite finishing 0.4% lower to close at 3520 points while the Hang Seng Index has given up on getting back on track, diving some 1.3% to close at 25305 points. Japanese markets are also losing direction, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.3% lower at 29598 points in response to the sudden fall in the USDJPY pair as it tries to find support here at the 114 level:

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Australian stocks were the only ones in the region to lift higher, but only just with the ASX200 closing up 0.1% at 7379 points as the Australian dollar accelerates its rollover from the failed swing start to the week, heading well below the 73 handle for a new weekly and monthly low:

Eurostoxx and S&P futures are again just holding on to their overnight moves, with a lack of momentum going on as the four hourly chart of the S&P500 shows price unable to climb back above the recent highs at the 4700 point level:

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The economic calendar is light on tonight with US weekly initial jobless claims the only event of note.