Asian stock markets are having a mixed day after absorbing the dovish ECB meeting overnight and then this afternoon’s BOJ meeting where nothing material was changed but Japanese yields have spiked to decade highs. The Australian dollar lost its mettle following a poor retail sales print but this was set in motion overnight as the USD is lifting against everything undollar as the Fed still has a battle on its hands.
Oil prices are holding on to their recent gains as Brent crude almost gets through the $84USD per barrel level while gold is trying to clawback its big loss overnight, floating back to the $1950USD per ounce level but looking very weak here:
Mainland Chinese share markets are lifting very strongly mid-afternoon with the Shanghai Composite more than 1.6% higher at 3270 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index has pushed more than 1% higher to 19880 points.
Japanese stock markets have pulled back following the BOJ meeting with the Nikkei 225 closing 1% lower at 32570 points while the USDJPY pair has deflated somewhat, still licking its wounds from last night’s post ECB oscillation and wondering what the BOJ is doing with its yield curve control programs:
Australian stocks have pulled back sharply on the retail sales print, with the ASX200 closing 0.7% lower at 7404 points. The Australian dollar has failed to recover its losses overnight, breaking below the 67 cent level despite more calls for the RBA to hike again next month:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are down 0.3% or so as traders the post ECB bounce is wound back slightly while the S&P500 four hourly chart shows hesitation after last night’s solid GDP print as Wall Street has to absorb some post close earnings as well:
The economic calendar ends the trading week with German GDP and inflation prints, plus the latest US Core PCE figures.