Stocks tried to bounce back from the big falls on Friday following the (over) reaction to the latest COVID variant news, with Asian stock markets continuing to sell off mildly while Wall Street and European futures are upbeat. The USD is taking back positions against a transitory higher Euro while Yen safe haven bidding is continuing. Gold remains locked below the $1800USD per ounce level while Bitcoin has gapped higher following weekend trade, currently at the mid $57K level but daily resistance overhead at $59K or so is still too hard to beat:
Chinese shares are still selling off with the Shanghai Composite down 0.2% to 3557 points while the Hang Seng Index is still running away, closing 1.1% lower at 23812 points. Japanese markets will want another holiday soon, with the Nikkei 225 closing down nearly 1.6% at 28283 points with the USDJPY pair tried to bounce back from its devastating 200 pip drop on Friday night with a big gap open but instead has return to the lows just above the 113 handle:
Australian stocks still couldn’t escape the carnage with the ASX200 closing 0.5% lower at 7239 points as the Australian dollar tries to form a bottom here just above the 71 handle after falling sharply on Friday night due to the big drop in commodity prices:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are actually up more nearly 2% and 1% respectively going into the London open but is this a recovery or a dead cat bounce? The S&P500 four hourly chart shows price wanting to head back to the previous weekly lows at the 4650 point level which may yet turn into strong resistance:
The economic calendar includes European consumer confidence and the latest German inflation rate print, while in the US its pending home sales plus an important speech from Fed Chair Powell.