Australian Shares

The Market Ear on bubble trouble.

This time an inflation print actually got traders worried on Wall Street with the latest US PPI coming in hot overnight showing that the tariff “push” is slowing coming through the US economy.

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 robots are all in on the AI bubble, but humans are not.

A staid night on the economic calendar with Wall Street closing at new record highs while European stocks played catchup as it seems the impact of US inflation is being discounted sharply by market players while the Fed continues to signal caution.

Asian share markets are generally boisterous in correlation with the equally euphoric Wall Street which was able to swing a higher domestic inflation print into an increased probability of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

The meltup is grabbing every underpriced entity and sending it mad.

Asian share markets are seeing a strong bid led by Japanese markets as they return from their long weekend with traders all waiting in anticipation of tonight’s US CPI print that is now becoming as important as the jobs print on the economic calendar.

The Market Ear on the great AI inflation.

Last night saw risk markets stumble due to a lack of economic catalysts as traders await tomorrow’s US CPI print to see how sticky the inflation from the Trump regime’s stupid tariffs are affecting US consumers and hence the trajectory of the US Federal Reserve.

Asian share markets are having a much better start to the trading week although Japanese markets are closed for yet another holiday as Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are seeing big bids.

The Market Ear on equity internals.

Friday night saw most stock markets rise including the NASDAQ which put in another record high despite obvious concerns that asset prices are overextended, but traders are betting on forthcoming cuts from the Federal Reserve amongst others in the battle against the Trump regime’s tariffs.

Risk markets were unable to move much overnight as the latest US initial jobless claims came in slightly higher than expected (until revised by Sharpie by the Fanta Fuhrer) while a lot of Fedspeak around the slowing US economy led Wall Street to closed mixed at best.

  It was all about tariffs again today in the minds of risk markets but Asian shares have all broadly advanced except the ASX200 which put in a scratch session.

Risk markets moved on geopolitical and outright political shenigans overnight with Apple pushing the NASDAQ over 1% higher while possible good news over Ukraine – via the US bullying India into submission over its Russian oil purchases – and more speculation about changes at the US Federal Reserve kept the USD significantly weak.

Green across the board for Asian stocks today despite the poor lead from Wall Street overnight, basically on speculation that the US Federal Reserve is likely to ease in September against dwindling domestic conditions in the US economy.

The Market Ear on the stock stall. SPX levels SPX is trading inside the trend channel that has been in place since late May. Short term support at 6300 (futures), which is the lower part of the channel.

Another poor US domestic economic print – this time the latest ISM services survey – sent Wall Street lower amid reaction to a rambling interview by Trump overnight espousing new off the cuff tariffs for pharmaceuticals and others.

Asian stocks are responding positively to the overnight solid moves on Wall Street and on European bourses with the ASX200 actually leading the way in today’s session.

The Market Ear on is that all? Quick fear The latest move higher in VIX (including today’s “reset” lower) shows you that the reaction in VIX has been rather fearful. The short term “gap” between SPX and VIX (inverted) is wide.

Wall Street rebounded overnight in what looked like a short covering exercise but barely managed to cover the Friday night losses while the USD remains on the ropes as it only moved higher against Swiss Franc as the likelihood of the Fed cutting rates much sooner increases.

The fallout from Friday night’s terrible – or beautiful depending on your alternative facts – US jobs print has seen most Asian share markets come back slightly while Wall Street looks set to lick its wounds on the open tonight.

Bear season starts with a bang.