Macro Afternoon

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A mixed session on Asian stock markets with Chinese and Japanese shares treading water despite some big moves on Wall Street overnight as risk markets continue to second guess the Fed’s rate rise agenda in 2023 with the inflation print tonight to hinge – or unhinge on. The USD has seen a drop against Yen as the BOJ announced a review of its recent easy policy settings while the Australian dollar rose a little on commodity prices. Meanwhile oil prices are holding from their overnight gains with Brent crude just below the $83USD per barrel level while gold is holding strong above the $1880USD per ounce level, poised here to breakout to a new high:

Mainland Chinese share markets are pulling back slightly after domestic CPI data with the Shanghai Composite down nearly 0.2% to remain above the 3100 point level, currently at 3158 points while the Hang Seng Index is doing the same, down 0.3% at 21390 points. Japanese stock markets are putting in scratch sessions on the big appreciation in Yen with the Nikkei 225 closing dead flat at 26453 points with the USDJPY pair dropping sharply below the 132 handle after the BOJ review news:

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Australian stocks have surged again with the ASX200 closing nearly 1.2% higher at 7280 points. The Australian dollar saw a mild lift higher in the afternoon, stabilising at the 69 cent level to remain above the weekly trend channel but looking somewhat overextended:

Eurostoxx and US futures are again slowly lifting higher with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action holding just below the 4000 point level with a series of new daily highs turning this breakout into something interesting. The upper downtrend line has been broken here but the 4000 point level is the one to beat:

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The economic calendar will focus squarely on tonight’s US CPI print.