Australian Shares

By Chris Becker Commodities were hit hard overnight as the new round of Trump tariffs against China were verified, along with a hawkish Fed meeting where further interest rate rises are literally around the corner in September.

Asian stocks generally finished higher today on the positive Wall Street lead but Chinese stocks and their proxies fell in late trade as the ramifiactions of the new Trump tariffs on Chinese trade weighed down sentiment.

From the AFR: The owners of Australia’s $117 billion listed real estate sector are expecting the market to ‘correct’ and have kept their gearing to historically low ranges in anticipation of this according to feedback received by S&P Global Ratings.

By Chris Becker A reversal in confidence overnight as trade deals and tech stocks give risk markets a lift, as the USD gained against the main currencies, particularly Euro.

A very mixed session here in Asia as stock markets put in scratch sessions and mild losses in reaction to the BOJ monetary policy and Chinese PMI prints.

by Chris Becker So what’s pushing the ASX200 up to new highs even as global markets fritter as the Trump trade war heats up?

By Chris Becker The poor start to the trading week here in Asia yesterday afternoon translated into more trips and falls on both sides of the Atlantic overnight as the fallout from Trump’s potential shutdown and the Facebook selloff overshadowed continued good earnings.

There’s big debate going on.

A poor start to the trading week here as the wishy-washy finish to the week on Friday spills over here in Asia.

By Chris Becker  Last week saw a possible pause in Trump’s trade war with a possible deal – not a deal-deal, but some kind of a deal, tremendous deal probably, maybe – between the US and Europe staving off wider concerns.

Its a relatively bullish close to the trading week here in Asia, with Chinese stocks the only fly in the ointment as risk confidence returns after last night Facebook blip.

By Chris Becker The plunge in Facebook shares overshadowed the ECB meeting and Trump’s continual backtracking on his trade war with the continent.

In response to the EU/US trade “deal” overnight, Asian stocks have returned a mixed session today, as the weaker USD drags down correlated stock markets, particularly in Japan.

By Chris Becker A possible end to the European front in the trade war sent US stocks higher overnight, helped along by higher oil prices as the DOE crude oil inventory report had a much larger than expected drawdown.

Vested interests are everywhere, chipping away at the moral fibre of politicians, tilting taxes in their favour and diverting resources.

Another mixed day here in Asia, unable to translate the positive overnight gains on Wall Street as the Yuan continued to stumble against USD.

Via the AFR: Magellan boss and Rich Lister Hamish Douglass is preparing for the possibility that the US 10-year Treasury yield breaks through 4 per cent in 12 to 18 months’ time, sparking a 30 per cent sell-off in global equities, should the US Federal Reserve find itself surprised by resurgent inflation.

Via the always corporate friendly Bartho today: The capital structure Wesfarmers unveiled for its soon-to-be demerged Coles business reflects a fine line between ensuring the supermarket group is true-to-label as an investment proposition while creating some discipline around how it will behave once it is free to act independently.

By Chris Becker There were no surprises on the manufacturing/services PMI prints overnight, although German manufacturing did better than expected which was possibly behind the resurgence in European stocks, but it was a lack of other catlaysts – and tweets from Trump – that staved off volatility.

A much better day here in Asia after the stuttering start on Monday, with almost all stock markets in the green, helped along by a resurgent USD as the Yuan plummets.

Could not agree more.