Australian Dollar

A surge in Chinese shares is spurring on risk appetites across the region, with stocks lifting strongly this afternoon, taking risk currencies like the Australian dollar with them but leaving gold and the ASX200 behind.

By Chris Becker  Risk markets were very quiet Friday night due to the long weekend in the US (the one time of year when they pronounce day/month correctly) with a forgettable session in Europe as stocks retreated, while bond yields fell slightly amid mixed reaction on currency markets due to the lack of volume.

Another solid session across Asian stock markets today to finish the week, as traders absorbed last nights early NFP print due to the long weekend on US markets.

By Chris Becker  The short week for US markets meant the early release of the June non farm payrolls (US unemployment) numbers overnight, which surprised to the upside, but didn’t give a huge boost to Wall Street as expected, although the bubblicious NASDAQ made another new record high.

A more solid session across Asian stocks today, as traders await for tonight’s early NFP print due to the long weekend on US markets.

Via Bloomie: For an idea of how disparate predictions are for the world’s post-coronavirus rebound, look no further than forecasts for Australia’s dollar.

By Chris Becker  Wall Street continued to rise overnight, with the NASDAQ to an all time high while the release of the FOMC minutes had little impact, with markets focusing more positively on latest ISM manufacturing print.

A mixed session across Asia, echoing a similar mood in Europe and Wall Street overnight with Japanese stocks falling on reaction to a poor consumer confidence print and the possibility of more lockdowns due to a local uptick in coronavirus cases.

By Chris Becker  Wall Street continued its rebound overnight, with the NASDAQ nearly back to an all time high and the best quarter recorded in over 20 years.

Wall Street’s rebound overnight translated into similar gains here in Asia as we close out the month/quarter/financial year.

Via Damien Boey at Credit Suisse: An un-natural vision of stability. The US trade deficit, a proxy for foreigners’ US dollar (USD) saving, is exhibiting remarkable stability of late.

By Chris Becker  Wall Street rebounded overnight, spurned on by a surge in home sales and the usual quarter/end year rebalancing meme.

Wall Street’s slump on Friday has survived through the weekend to start the week here in Asia with a similar selloff, with most stock markets down 1-2% across the region.

Via ZeroHedge: After three months of relentless contrarian bearishness by institutional investors, even as retail investors first, and hedge funds subsequently (latest HF net leverage is 99%-ile) flooded into stocks, large institutions such as vanilla mutual funds and pensions finally capitulated to the Fed which is now openly pushing stock prices higher.

By Chris Becker  Wall Street stumbled on Friday night with yet another reversal in sentiment as the US failed response to the coronavirus with yet another record high number of cases has seen many States begin to again restrict economic activity.

Following the bounce on Wall Street overnight, Asian stocks came back to end the trading week with relatively strong sessions.

By Chris Becker  The plunge protection team stepped up to the plate again last night on Wall Street as a stunningly bad weekly jobless claim print and another record high number of new COVID-19 cases in the US  wasn’t real enough for shares to selloff.

Following the rout on Wall Street overnight, Asian stocks took a tumble today, not helped by Chinese stocks taking the day off with both European and S&P futures in the red as traders go defensive before the amateurs start selling off.