Macro Afternoon

Advertisement

Asian share markets are having a buoyant session across the region on the back of the “just okay” US jobs report from Friday night and some further indication that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep easing while the ECB and BOE look set to finish or have already done so. This has also given a quick reversal to recent USD strength as most undollars bounced back over the weekend gap with the Australian dollar getting back above the 65 cent level again.

Oil markets are consolidating into recent strength with Brent crude steady above the $66USD per barrel level while gold has recovered very slightly from its major contraction on Friday night, currently just above the $3300USD per ounce level:

Mainland Chinese share markets are trying hard to get out of their recent holding pattern with the Shanghai Composite up slightly in the afternoon session but almost above the 3400 point level while the Hang Seng Index has gained more than 1% to finally break the 24000 point level. Japanese stock markets are also continuing their bounce back on the recently weaker Yen with the Nikkei 225 moving nearly 0.9% higher to 38078 points while trading in the USDPY pair has seen a small retracement to just above the 144 level:

Advertisement

Australian stocks were closed for the long weekend with SPI futures indicating some upside on the open tomorrow while the Australian dollar bounced back over the weekend gap to get back above the 65 handle:

Advertisement

S&P and Eurostoxx futures are down slightly despite the positive mood in Asia with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing a desire to stay at the recent highs near the 6000 point level as short term momentum slips out of overbought mode:

The economic calendar is relatively quiet after Friday night’s US NFP print, but wait there’s a parade coming!

Advertisement