Asian stocks are relatively steady or slightly down digesting the news over the weekend and the meek finish on Wall Street from Friday night as markets expected more action from the PBOC today. Chinese equities instead are dragging the region down with the USD leaving currency majors in a holding pattern ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting later this week as the Australian dollar still looks extremely weak.
Oil prices are trying to bounce back after the recent modest selloff with Brent crude now pushing above the $85USD per barrel level while gold remains entrenched in a downtrend following its breakdown below the $1900USD per ounce level last week:
Mainland Chinese share markets sold off into the close with the Shanghai Composite down more than 1% at 3092 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index has lost another 2% to finish at 17590 points.
Japanese stock markets are the odds one out, with the Nikkei 225 lifting nearly 0.5% to 31565 points while the USDJPY is steady following last week’s CPI print, currently just below the mid 145 level:
Australian stocks are falling alongside Chinese stocks with the ASX200 closing nearly 0.5% lower at 7115 points while the Australian dollar just can’t hold above the 64 cent level after almost hitting the mid 63 cent level last week:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are up slightly with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the downtrend from the last two weeks breaking new ground below.The inability to get back above the 4600 point level before last month’s NFP print is resulting in this trend channel winding down further as confidence evaporates:
The economic calendar starts the week slowly with a few Treasury auctions.