By Chris Becker A public holiday on Wall Street was enough to take the wind out of the bubble blowers overnight with European markets putting in mild scratch session, while bond markets drifted around. The IMF lowered their growth forecasts in the recent release at Davos while oil prices came back after reaching a new
Asian stock markets are creeping ever higher, lifting by the megabullish sentiment on Wall Street from Friday night with more record highs and new yearly highs the order of the day. Chinese stocks have diverted in fortune again with the goosed Shanghai Composite lifting nearly 0.5% to almost start the week back above the 3100
By Chris Becker Another record night on Wall Street as institutional memories of past bubbles are erased and everyone presses the buy button! Solid US economic data on Friday night, namely industrial production for December imbibed risk to improve the outlook for 2020, with the USD surging against Euro in response. Commodities rose slightly alongside
It’s all guns blazing, bulls let loose in China shops – well, except China – as Asian stock markets are buoyed by the overnight lift on Wall Street with record highs and new yearly highs the order of the day. Chinese stocks are still struggling to make gains despite the rest of the region with
By Chris Becker Today in Asia, markets will be watching the Chinese Q4 GDP print and have a wave of bullishness behind them if it all goes to plan as Wall Street made yet another record high in the wake of solid retail sales data for December. The USD re-engaged its strength against the majors
Most Asian stock markets remained where they started trading today as the response to the signing of the US/China trade deal was not as bullish as expected. Chinese stocks continue to struggle with a higher Yuan with the Shanghai Composite falling nearly 0.5% to remain well below the 3100 points level, closing at 3074 points,
By Chris Becker Depsite the signing of the Phase 1 trade deal between China and the US, sentiment soured overnight with Wall Street just scraping in with scratch session with focus actually on the impending impeachment trial in the Senate. The USD unwound its earlier gains while Bitcoin continued its big meltup, almost approaching $9000
Most Asian stock markets slipped in trading today as the response to the cooler than expected US CPI print and a much higher Yuan, all in anticipation of the signing of the Phase 1 US/China trade deal takes risk off the table temporarily. Chinese stocks are now struggling to absorbing the Yuan rise with the
By Chris Becker Risk markets are trying to make new record highs again but the slightly softer than expected CPI print in the US overnight shook up the complex, with mixed results on Wall Street and scratch sessions across the European continent. Currency markets were generally contained with the majors not moving much while Pound
Asian stock markets advanced outside of China as the PBOC substantially lowered the fix of the Yuan which saw it strengthen a lot in offshore trading, now down to 6.87 making a new monthly low. The three main Asian undollars – Aussie, Kiwi and Yen – all fell back against the USD as result. Chinese
by Chris Becker The Australian dollar failed to make headway above the 69 cent level vs. USD overnight and is falling in the Asian session as more good news surrounds the US trade deal with China: After a small dip its holding against Yen: But the big news of the hour is that the US
By Chris Becker Another bullish day to be expected here in Asia with another record high on Wall Street overnight pushing the risk complex along with tech stocks leading the way. The poor US jobs print from Friday seems to have been forgotten as focus shifts more to risk taking, but currency markets were relatively
by Chris Becker The iron ore complex reopened over the weekend with modest upticks on both spot and futures prices, although rebar finally slowed down a little: Meanwhile, Rio Tinto is still digging away with a big project announced yesterday for Monadelphous and Lycopodium, who’ve been contracted to design and construct Rio’s Western Turner Syncline
A mixed start to the trading week here in Asia with only the ASX200 pulling back in response to the small selloff on Wall Street on Friday night, as the rest of the region continued higher. The PBOC fix of the Yuan saw it strengthen a lot in offshore trading, down to 6.90, reaching a
by Chris Becker Friday night’s US NFP (non-farm payroll) unemployment print for December reset the strong USD meme that had been in place since the New Year with the King of currencies falling back on lower risk expectations. While the headline unemployment rate remains flat at 3.5%: The monthly numbers were well below expectations and
By Chris Becker Friday night saw a big reversal in USD as the long awaited US unemployment (non-farm payroll or NFP) print for December showed a much less than expected pace – only 145K jobs created – with a subsequent risk-off mood on Wall Street. Undollars like gold and especially the Australian dollar broke higher
by Chris Becker Friday saw a dip in spot prices alongside futures but rebar and coking coal markets continue to heat up: Meanwhile, the Baltic Dry Index has finally stopped falling on Friday: The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels that ferry dry bulk commodities, increased 2 points, or 0.3%, to
A mixed end to the trading week here in Asia as risk positions for tonight’s US unemployment print that will set the tone for the rest of January, post the Iranian crisis. Meanwhile, the PBOC daily Yuan fix saw another drop in offshore trading while the latest retail sales print pushed the Aussie dollar slightly
by Chris Becker The latest retail sales data has temporarily paused the end of week selloff in Australian dollar, as the US unemployment print tonight remains in sight as a continued divergence for USD holders. The Pacific Peso has blipped 20 pips higher from its very tight current trading range: The weekly trend remains down,
By Chris Becker The relief rally continues as the de-escalation in the US-Iran brouhaha boosted risk sentiment higher, although the recent news of the Ukrainain jet disaster being Iran shooting the jet down will complicate this significantly. Nevertheless, stock markets reached new record highs again on Wall Street, while bond yields are higher and currencies
by Chris Becker The iron ore complex inverted yesterday with spot prices and short term Dalian futures falling back while the Singapore long dated futures rose as the restocking meme slowed down: Port Hedland is fast tracking the wealth out of the country with record exports, surpassing half a billion tonnes again in 2019. From
Risk took a calm sigh here today in Asia as the relief rally widened, with stocks rallying hard alongside risk proxies like USDJPY. The PBOC daily Yuan fix saw a big drop in offshore trading, down to the 6.92 level and almost a yearly low while the latest Australian trade balance figures didn’t effect the
by Chris Becker Well, at least for the rest of the week. The easing off of tensions between Iran and the US has seen a flop in oil prices, but no commensurate move in the commodity proxy Australia dollar, even as other undollar assets like gold, Yen and Bitcoin stumble. This morning’s release of the
By Chris Becker Risk markets were in relief mode last night as the teleprompter did the talking for Trump, easing off on strikes against Iran, which sent the USD higher against nearly everything and pulled out the stops on Wall Street, although defense stocks were disappointed. Bond yields are higher, while the USDJPY proxy jumped
by Chris Becker Spot iron ore prices continued their New Year rally while long dated futures markets moderated as the restocking meme continued apace: Meanwhile the Indian iron ore industry is desperate for their government to remove export duties as they find they can’t compete with the Chinese cheap market: It complains that iron ore
Well it’s been an interesting day to say the least here in Asia for risk markets with the Iranian attack on US bases in Iraq dominating the news and sentiment. Gold spiked above the $1600USD per ounce level alongside Bitcoin and other safe haven assets, setting of a chain of cash spilling out of stocks
by Chris Becker And so it begins. Via AP: Iranian state TV says Tehran has launched “tens” of surface-to-surface missiles at Iraq’s Ain Assad air base housing U.S. troops in response to the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. It was not immediately clear whether the purported missile strikes struck the base or whether any
by Chris Becker Not a good night for Australian dollar bulls with the Pacific Peso kicked down below 69 cents against the USD in what at first glance looks like a technical move: The risk proxy AUDNZD pair was also hit hard, moving to a new monthly low, surpassing the July 2019 terminus: Looking at
By Chris Becker Risk markets continue to stumble around in the new year with the latest US economic data surprising slightly to the upside, pushing the USD higher against almost everything, but in particular the Australian dollar which crashed to a monthly low. Tensions over Iran have almost dissipated – the calm before the storm
by Chris Becker The iron ore price complex had a slight breather yesterday as spot prices lifted slightly alongside futures as the major steelmaking city Tangshan lifted its second-level smog alert, helping boost demand as controls are eased. The stupidly composed Department of Industry, Innovation and Science recently released its forecasts (dart boards size not
