Risk markets in Asia are reacting with some trepidation after the Friday night cut by ratings agency Moody on US debt, with all stocks in the red with US Treasury futures also falling. This is all about the burgeoning fiscal deficit problem in the US Congress which is trying again to vote on the Trump regime’s ridiculous “re-balancing” while US consumers start to grasp the situation the tariffs will have on their economy. The USD is just holding on in Asian trade with the Australian dollar is trying hard to remain above the 64 cent level this afternoon going into tomorrow’s RBA meeting.
Oil markets are trying to stabilise with Brent crude stuck at the $65USD per barrel level while gold is trying to fight back but is just holding on the $3220USD per ounce level this afternoon:
Mainland Chinese share markets are again slightly lower going into afternoon trade with the Shanghai Composite just above the 3360 point level while the Hang Seng Index has lost just 0.2% to remain above the 23000 point level. Japanese stock markets are further back however on the stronger Yen with the Nikkei 225 down more than 0.6% to 37508 points while trading in the USDPY pair has seen a gap lower from the Moody cut news over the weekend as it retraces back to the 145 level:
Australian stocks have slid back somewhat with the ASX200 losing just over 0.6% at 8288 points while the Australian dollar is holding just above the 64 handle as it thinks about tomorrow’s RBA meeting:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are sliding back a little going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart still showing a slowdown here in short term momentum in the wake of the Moody’s cut back down to the 5900 point level:
The economic calendar is relatively quiet tonight with a few Fed speeches with the big one tomorrow being the May RBA meeting.