Equity markets outside of Japan in Asia are dragging their feet despite a weaker USD with the Trump regime putting more pressure on Fed Chair Powell not helping. The USD is failing to clawback lost ground with Euro, Swiss Franc and Yuan all making new highs against the “King” as the absence of any real progress on trade deals with any major nations in the wake of the tariff fiasco continuing to weigh.
Oil markets continue to steady after their recent correction with Brent crude still trading below the $67USD per barrel level while gold is trying to fight back against the trend, moving slightly above the $3330USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are in flux in afternoon trade as the Shanghai Composite steadies above the 3400 point level while the Hang Seng Index has fallen back some 0.8% but is still maintaining a strong position above the 24000 point level. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets are doing very well with the Nikkei 225 lifting more than 1.5% higher with the USDPY pair returning back to its recent lows just below the 145 level:
Australian stocks still can’t find much positivity with the ASX200 closing dead flat at 8554 points while the Australian dollar was able to slightly extend above the 65 handle this afternoon on the weaker USD:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are up slightly going into the London session with the S&P500 daily chart showing the market clearly overextended but still turning bad news into outsized returns after breaking right through the 6100 point level:
The economic calendar includes an ECB meeting followed by US initial jobless claims and the latest durable goods orders.