Macro Afternoon

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Asian stock markets are trying to bounceback after a week full of falls and fails with a sustained bounce outside of China giving some hope to North Atlantic markets as they head into the final session of the week. The USD remains very strong against most of the major currency pairs, although there are some minor signs of recovery in risk currencies like the Aussie and Loonie. Gold however, remains stuck below the $1800USD per ounce level, having played catchup overnight to other undollars and looks set to rollover further:

Mainland Chinese shares are failling back into the close with the Shanghai Composite down 0.5%, currently at 3375 points, while the Hang Seng Index is adding to its woes, down 1% to be at 23573 points. Japanese markets are coming back though with the Nikkei 225 closing 2% higher at 26717 points while the USDJPY pair is holding on to its gains, after pushing through the previous weekly high and staying elevated above the 115 handle:

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Australian stocks caught a break on short covering with the ASX200 closing 2.2% lower to just finish below the 7000 point level at 6988 points, while the Australian dollar is still dicing with the key 70 handle, having dropped to a new monthly low, as the USD proves too strong:

Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are slowly melting up going into the London open, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing a reluctance to get back above the 4400 point level as it seems anchored around the September 2021 lows at the 4250 level:

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The economic calendar finishes the week with the Q4 German GDP flash print, US core PCE readings for December and the Michigan consumer sentiment survey for January.