Australian Shares

The Australian dollar had added a few pips this morning: Bonds are a little soft: Stocks to the moon as Trump moves from vague guff about oil to vague guff about more stimulus cheques: Big Iron is convinced that global depression can’t hurt it.

By Chris Becker  Friday night saw the release of the latest US unemployment figures following two weeks of epically bad initial jobless claims, with over 700,000 jobs officially lost although its expected to be much higher given the exponential rate of decline in the “land of the free”.

Another down day for Asian stock markets as local markets erase the one-off blip on Wall Street overnight as oil prices come back slightly and USD strengthens against Yen and gold.

Via Saxo: Summary: With all the major central banks expected to be effectively zero bound in 2020, the scope for returns in bonds will be low for years to come.

The AUD is up as usual in Asian trade: Bonds are pulling back on oil: XJO is up: Tracking Big Iron which still looks like a sitting duck: Big Gas is running with El Trumpo’s oil rumourtage.

By Chris Becker  Last night saw the return of risk despite another record blowout in unemployment claims in the US, where daily deaths from COVID-19 are now well over 1000.

Another down day for Asian stock markets as local markets finally catch-up to the runoff in risk around the region, as USD strengthens a little across the majors, including gold which slipped further.

The Australian dollar is up few pips this morning: Bonds are strong: XJO has gapped much of yesterday’s inexplicable surge: Big Iron is down.

By Chris Becker  As the TrumpVirus becomes exponential, stocks were again the hardest hit overnight as risk shifted away from commodity currencies as well, with already record low bond yields dropped further in the wake of the crisis.

Another volatile day for Asian stock markets with a clear divergence between external hesistion and internal delusion as the ASX200 continues to be bid higher.

Via The Australian: Veteran fund manager Geoff Wilson has warned that “everything is on the table” when the government looks for ways to pay for its massive spending spree to support the economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Australian dollar is still soft this morning: Bonds are bid out the wazoo: Sometimes the Australian stupidity premium can make a few dollars.

By Chris Becker  So the first quarter of 2020 is over – doesn’t it feel like a year already?

A volatile day for local stocks while other Asian bourses were very unsteady following the broad gains on Wall Street overnight.

Via Goldman: “After a swift 18% rally [last week], the most common investor question was ‘has a new bull market started ?’” Goldman analysts, led by David Kostin, wrote.

The Australian dollar is soft: Bonds are still firm if off a little: Stocks to the moon!

Via the excellent Damien Boey at Credit Suisse: The Australian government has pledged an additional $130 billion over the next 6 months in wage subsidies.

By Chris Becker  Overnight risk markets took the stimulus ball and ran with it, ignoring the growing COVID-19 virus caseload and deaths, particularly in the heart of the global economic machine, the USA.

Outside local stocks its been another rough start to the trading week throughout Asia for risk markets, but US futures are pushing higher as the risk complex again reweights the growing pile of virus victims versus the verisimilitude of a v-shaped recovery!

By Chris Becker  It’s crunch time for stock markets around the world this week as its plain to see that the combined efforts of central banks and fiscal stimulus has had almost no impact on the reality that is a major recession forthcoming in 2020.

Outside local stocks its been a solid session throughout Asia for risk markets, but US futures are pulling back as all eyes are on the US Congress passing the stimulus bill.

By Chris Becker  Stimulus packages are pumping air into the carcass that is the dead cat like a bagpipe, with Wall Street rallying on hopes that the cheques from Congress will save the next quarterly earnings bell.