Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei down 0.65 %, Shanghai Composite lost 0.10 %, Hang Seng rose 0.55 %, ASX 200 fell 0.80 %
- Commodities: Gold at $1185 (+0.05 %), Silver at $16.67 (-0.10 %), WTI Oil at $52.00 (+0.10 %), Brent Oil at $55.00 (+0.15 %)
- Rates: US 10-year yield at 2.37, UK 10-year yield at 1.34, German 10-year yield at 0.28
News & Data:
- China CPI (YoY) (Dec): 2.10% (est 2.20%, prev 2.30%)
- China CPI (MoM) (Dec): 0.20% (est 0.30%, prev 0.10%)
- China PPI (YoY) (Dec): 5.50% (est 4.60%, prev 3.30%)
- Australia Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov): 0.2% (est 0.40%, prev 0.50%)
- UK BRC Total Retail Spending YoY (Dec): +1.7% (prev +1.3%)
- UK BRC Sales LFL YoY (Dec): +1.0% (prev +0.6%)
- Japan Consumer Confidence (Dec): 43.1 (prev 40.9)
- Sterling attempts to steady, dollar pulls further away from highs
- Asia stocks steady, oil in flux, sterling suffering 'hard' Brexit fears
- Oil recovers some previous losses, but doubts over supply cuts linger
Markets Update:
The US Dollar came under pressure overnight. USD/JPY reached a top of 117.50 yesterday, and has seen strong selling since then, pushing the pair back to 115.19 overnight. While it has bounced from there, short-term techs suggest that further losses are ahead, and a break below 115 would pave the way for a test of 113.
Meanwhile, the Euro bounced and rose to a high of 1.0626, surpassing the recent high from January 6th. It ran out of momentum there, but retraced only to 1.0600. Further gains seem likely.
The Pound was the only currency that failed to benefit from the broad Dollar weakness, amid worries about a hard Brexit. GBP/USD consolidated in a 1.2135-80 range in Asia.
The commodity currencies rose slightly. AUD/USD from 0.7340 to 0.7385, and NZD/USD from 0.7005 to 0.7045.
Upcoming Events:
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