Asian share markets were doing well until US Treasury Secretary Bessent stuck his foot in his mouth calling on the BOJ to lift rates while local markets surged on a stronger than expected July unemployment print. The USD is still losing out against most of the majors as Euro nearly lifts above the 1.17 handle while the Australian dollar pulled back slightly on the numberwang story but is still holding above the 65 cent level in afternoon trade.
Oil markets sold off all last week and continue to struggle to make any gains with Brent crude sulking below the $66USD per barrel level while gold remains somewhat depressed but is slowly lifting after giving up its last Friday night gains, currently holding steady just above the $3360USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are pulling back going into the close with the Shanghai Composite down 0.4% but still well above the 3600 point level while the Hang Seng Index is playing along, down 0.3% to remain just above 25500 points. Japanese stock markets are seeing a strong selloff on the stronger Yen with the Nikkei 225 losing more than 1.3% to 42639 points with the USDPY pair sinking back to the mid 146 level this afternoon on Bessent’s comments:
Australian stocks were the best performers again this time due to the strong unemployment print with the ASX200 lifting more than 0.5% to 8873 points while the Australian dollar has pulled back slightly on the print as it gives the RBA some ammunition to hold fast for the moment, settling just above the 65 cent level against USD:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are down slightly going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the market wanting to continue its rebound and return to the previous highs as momentum goes into overdrive in the short term:
The economic calendar ramps up tonight with the latest US PPI print, followed by weekly initial jobless claims.