Stocks are tanking across the region in response to the late and disconcerting selloff on Wall Street overnight which is likely to continue as major companies like Netflix continue to miss their earnings. The USD remains very strong against most of the majors, with the Australian dollar pushed back below the 72 handle while safe haven buying in Yen continues and gold holds on to its recent uncorrelated strength at the $1840USD per ounce level. Meanwhile, the bottom has fallen out of Bitcoin – whoosh:
Mainland Chinese shares are feeling the risk off moves with the Shanghai Composite down 0.8% to 3523 points while the Hang Seng Index is pulling back, currently off 0.7% to 24766 points, but still outperforming the rest of the region. Japanese markets flopped, taking back the previous bounce back with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.5% lower at 27350 points as the USDJPY pair continued its deflation down to last week’s lows at the lower 113 handle on the run to Yen:
Australian stocks had even worst falls as confidence evaporated with the ASX200 closiing more than 2% lower to a new monthly low at 7176 points, as the Australian dollar slid back below the 72 handle almost matching its mid week low as the USD proves too strong:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are falling sharply going into the London open, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price well below the December lows at the 4550 level (lower black horizontal line) as the potential builds to turn this into a proper correction:
The economic calendar finishes the week with UK retail sales and US consumer confidence and more earnings.