Asian stock markets have calmed down somewhat after the steep slump on Wall Street recently with inflation and recession fears still battling it out. The USD is still dominating but some heat has come out of the currency market as well with the Australian dollar holding at the 68 cent level. Meanwhile oil prices are drifting slightly lower with Brent crude hovering just below the $81USD per barrel level as gold is unchanged but still depressed below the $1830USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are relatively flat with the Shanghai Composite currently up a handful of points to 3293 points while the Hang Seng is actually up 0.5%, closing at 20531 points. Japanese stock markets were closed for yet another holiday with Nikkei 225 futures slightly lower while the lack of volume has also seen the USDJPY pair remain steady at just below the 135 level, still near its previous weekly high:
Australian stocks have again failed to gain traction with the ASX200 closing 0.3% lower to push below the 7300 point level to close at 7294 points. The Australian dollar is finding some support after crashing down to the 68 cent level where its matching the previous weekly low:
Eurostoxx and US futures are still quite weak but at least haven’t pull back further, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action hovering around the 4000 point level. The possibility of a bottoming action is firming here but there is a lot of resistance overhead as the downtrend remains dominant:
The economic calendar will include the latest Euro core inflation print, US GDP estimates plus the latest initial jobless claims numbers.