Australian Dollar

By Chris Becker  A bath of blood on stock markets overnight with both sides of the Atlantic down a whopping 3-4% across the board!

Asian markets are not responding well to the weekend news, with non-mainland Chinese stock markets selling off broadly.

By Chris Becker  Continued unease over the impact of the corona-virus is sending stocks down again, with Wall Street falling on Friday night.

The rumblings of fear are being heard across equity markets here in Asia with more safe haven buying in gold and bonds pushing stocks down across the region.

By Chris Becker  Stock markets seem to be rising and falling in line with the pace of the coronavirus, falling again last night as the number of external fatalities rose, prompting more bond and USD buying and a reversal of the previous night’s stock gains.

As the market realises that Phil Lowe is going to cut after all: It’s a slow dawn though as bonds still have plenty of room to rally: Unemployment is rising before the coronavirus hit.

By Chris Becker  US stock markets followed the positive mood generated in Asia then enhanced in Europe, with the S&P500 again hitting another record high as the release of the latest FOMC minutes gave a “steady as she goes” signal.

It’s been a bounceback day here in Asia for stock markets at least, as fear swings back to hope, helped by the Chinese propaganda surrounding growth prospects viz.

By Chris Becker  US stock markets returned from their long weekend and went on the defensive straight away, absorbing the Apple guidance cut with some mild falls on Wall Street after European bourses fell in response to a rout in Asia.

DXY has broken out and has the ears pinned back as EUR tumbles: The Australian dollar held on at the brink again.

Its a risk off mood here in Asia today with the fallout from the Apple revenue guidance striking a little bit of fear in stock markets.

At The Australian comes the reality: Scott Morrison is caught between an immovable object and an irresistible force.

By Chris Becker  Risk markets traded thinly overnight due to the closure of Wall Street for a holiday, although stocks on both sides of the Atlantic did inch up slightly.

Watching stocks you could be forgiven for thinking that the world is about to boom.

Today’s session in Asia was marked (sic) with a lot of markdowns to GDP growth across the region in the wake of the coronavirus, with Japanese and Australian economies expected to feel the brunt the most in the first quarter.

By Chris Becker  Friday night saw risk markets wobble slightly as the latest US industrial production numbers fall slightly while inflation expectations also pared back, although retail sales were upbeat as expected.

DXY looks like it’s primed for breakout as EUR free falls: The market is not especially short EUR.

A mixed day here in Asia with some stock markets following Wall Street down, some advancing particularly in China and its Australian satellite.

By Chris Becker  Risk markets continue to be rattled by fear over the coronavirus with the big jump in Chinese cases sending Wall Street send slightly overnight which should provide a minor headwind to end the risk taking here in Asia going into the weekend.