Australian Shares

Hope at Bloomie: Asian stocks gained Tuesday amid optimism over U.S.-China trade talks and a fresh wave of merger and acquisition activity.

By Chris Becker  A big surge on overnight markets with US stocks making new record highs in the wake of fresh optimism surrounding the US/China trade deal and the run up to the Black Friday retail orgy.

Weekend news of a possible resolution or movement of some kind in the US/China trade talks although the IMF is right to say this might be just domestic politics posturing as one country tries to stabilise internal struggle while the other tries to kick out a corrupt autocrat.

Via Epoch Times: Elements of the immediate and long-term aftermath of a Hong Kong massacre may include the following catastrophic results for the CCP: The destruction of Hong Kong’s reputation as a safe and free haven for business.

By Chris Becker  US all the way on Friday night with Treasuries, the USD Index and Wall Street all advancing in tandem on the back of (spurious) claims by Trump that the US/China trade talks are advancing well – even though he later contradicted that in a Fox news rant.

Another generally mixed day in Asian risk taking given the poor performance on Wall Street overnight as the stronger USD weighs on markets.

We’re still waiting for Tim Toohey’s last boom which was going to skyrocket interest rates in 2017.

By Chris Becker  The USD re-asserted itself overnight as stock markets stumbled surrounding the continued lack of good news emanating from US/China trade talks, with Wall Street putting in minor losses.

Another sea of red across Asian stock markets today following the same wave overnight on Wall Street, despite the Chinese trying to shore up optimism that trade talks won’t stumble and fall into the 2020 calendar year.

By Chris Becker  Overnight markets were rocked again as the possibility of the US/China trade talks extending well into 2020 firmed, as domestic concerns outweighed the bigger picture, stumbling on tariffs again.

No surprise that risk markets are wobbling on any sniff of trouble surrounding the US/China trade deal, as Trump throws the word “tariff” in the air again, which sent US stocks lower overnight, leaking into safe havens here in Asia.

By Chris Becker  US stocks lost ground as Trump fumbled around comments regarding Chinese tariffs, pushing industrials down while tech stocks had a slight tick upwards, as the USD lost ground against the undollars.

Japanese stocks are weighing on Asian risk taking as selling exhaustion is seeing Chinese markets both on the mainland and in oppressed Hong Kong surge higher.

By Chris Becker  A very quiet night for stock markets as weakness in USD sees risk taking a back seat with scratch sessions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Outside local stock markets, the rest of Asia is bullish coming out of the Friday night play on overseas markets, where risk taking remains strong as Wall Street reaches a new record high – again.

By Chris Becker  Friday night saw another new record high for US markets, all based on the expectation that the US/China trade talks will still present a positive outcome for both.

Outside China, stocks are quite boisterous here in Asia leading to good buy signals for the northern hemisphere as we close the trading week out.

By Chris Becker  Overnight risk markets are in retracement mode as the USD also falls against all the majors except the commodity proxies as Aussie, Kiwi and Loonie remain subdued.

Stocks are generally down across Asia with only local issues rising due to the fall in the Aussie dollar as the latest unemployment print undershot, sending interest rate expectations down with it.

More today from the BofAML fundie survey: 1.

By Chris Becker  An unexpectedly lower UK CPI print and continued focus on Hong Kong, combined with all eyes on the Trump impeachment inquiry is seeing risk markets on both sides of the Atlantic wobble as USD becomes mixed against the majors.

Stocks are falling across the region as tariff concerns over the Chinese trade deal mount alongside increased tensions in Hong Kong.

The BoAML fundie survey is out, via AFR: “The bulls are back,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at the bank.