Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar is within millimeters of breaking to new correction lows: If it goes, and can break 75 cents convincingly as well then the post-2015 uptrend line will rupture, piling on the heat.

By Chris Becker Another stalled night for risk on both sides of the Atlantic with the USD reasserting itself against the majors – save Yen as a haven – with gold tumbling again, while Bitcoin goes to a new crazy high (see chart at bottom of report).

Via the AFR: Currency expert Kenneth Rogoff warns that Bitcoin is “totally a bubble” because governments will ultimately impose regulations on the anonymous crypto currency and depress its value.

by Chris Becker A sea of red for Asian stocks today following the poor lead from Wall Street overnight as falling commodity prices on the back of a resurgent USD cascading into a mining stock selloff.

By Chris Becker Shock and horror as stock markets fall two days in a row as the USD returned to strength, striking down all the major currencies, washing gold over the side of its tenuous support as its more useful cousin copper plunged on the LME.

by Chris Becker Asian stocks were mixed in response to the poor lead from Wall Street overnight with all eyes on the RBA today seeing the Aussie dollar spike above 76 cents against the USD.

The ASX is still as excited as a dead possum today: The Australian dollar is more interesting, threatening a counter-trend rally with support around 76 cents holding and a double bottom in place: The odds are pretty reasonable for a short term bounce.

From the suddenly BTC crazy AFR: A bitcoin big short is building.

By Chris Becker Stocks at first rallied overnight on a generally good Asian lead, with European markets closing higher before a selloff in US tech stocks overshadowed the gains by the Republican, I mean industrial stocks most likely to receive a benefit from the GOP tax cuts.

by Chris Becker A case of weekend news catch up here in Asia as the inevitable gap caught a few traders short as USD spiked higher and caused volatility across Japanese and Australian shares in particular.

By Chris Becker  Maybe the newest three letter code to follow on Wall Street is FBI, as markets roiled on Friday on the possibility of Trump’s inner circle finally being probed by the Special Prosecutor.

by Chris Becker Its all about the tax cuts as the US Senate votes tonight, holding risk markets in thrall as Asian stocks were mixed on the first day of the month.

The Australian dollar hung on at the lows last night by its finger nails as crashing yield spreads to the US mount unceasing pressure upon the currency.

Fed speech last night: Thoughts on Prudent Innovation in the Payment System Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal K.

by Chris Becker It was all about tech stocks in Asia today, with profit taking the motive, well except if you own Aussie banks, then its a case of covering risk.

Something strange has happened to my charts this morning so apologies but here’s the wrap: DXY was stable; AUS was down against DMs and EMs; gold and oil were hit; base metals were mixed; big miners and EM stocks fell; junk was OK; Treasury yields lifted, bunds were bogged and stocks eased a touch.

BTC surpassed $11k last night: When does BTC become too big to succeed?

This is way above my IT pay grade but enjoy, from ENTEXT: Practical ‘Quantum Supremacy’ Demonstration Looms in 2018 ‘It isn’t just a faster computer of the kind that we’re used to.

by Chris Becker Not even the fat man with a Fat Boy rocket can spoil the fun here in Asia with risk casting aside any doomsday news and bidding up almost across the board.

By Chris Becker Last night saw a big surge in stocks as the Republican tax plan inched closer to reality, as did the FCC’s campaign against net neutrality, helping lift all the mega-corporate listings on Wall Street.

by Chris Becker Risk in Asia can’t get started this week with more falls across stock markets following a lacklustre lead overnight on Wall Street.