Asian stock markets continue to join in on the retreats on Wall Street and in European shares following Friday night’s too good US jobs report that saw the USD zoom higher against everywhere, pulling bond yields up and recession expectations paradoxically higher as well. The Australian dollar has crashed through its previous floor at the 64 cents level while Euro remains extremely weak. Meanwhile oil prices are holding on to their recent gains due to the OPEC production cuts, with Brent crude still above the $97USD per barrel level while gold is falling behind once more in line with other undollars, now well below the $1700USD per ounce level, currently at the $1687 level:
Mainland Chinese share markets have reopened after last week’s holidays with the Shanghai Composite down 0.9% to cross just below the 3000 point barrier while the Hang Seng Index has remained in reversal mode, closing more than 2.5% lower to start the week at the 17289 point level. Japanese stock markets are of course having another long weekend while the USDJPY pair is again trying to lift further above the 145 level as USD proves too strong against any defensive Yen bid:
Australian stocks joined in with the selling, with the ASX200 finishing down 1.4% to start the week out below the 6700 point level at 6667 points. The Australian dollar is now below the floor it made a few weeks ago, heading towards the 63 handle with short term momentum looking to break even lower here:
Eurostoxx and US futures are drifting lower as we head into the London session, with the S&P500 four hourly futures chart showing price action wanting to rollover further after Friday night’s fallout below the 3700 point level. Medium term and possibly psychological long term resistance at the 4000 point level is now a distant memory as momentum and price action are pointing to a return to the previous lows, and possibly the June lows after the NFP print:
The economic calendar starts the week slowly as US bond markets are closed.