Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.67%, Shanghai Composite up 0.16%, Hang Seng up 1.33%, ASX up 0.35%
- Commodities : Gold at $1336.30 (+0.01%), Silver at $16.41 (+0.29%), WTI Oil at $67.39 (+0.42%), Brent Oil at $62.30 (+0.39%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.794, UK 10-year yield at 1.398, Germany 10-year yield at 0.493
News & Data:
- (CAD) Ivey PMI 59.8 vs 60.2 expected
- (USD) Unemployment Rate 4.10% vs 4.00% expected
- (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change 103K vs 188K expected
- (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m 0.30% vs 0.30% expected
- (CAD) Unemployment Rate 5.80% vs 5.80% expected
- (CAD) Employment Change 32.3K vs 20.1K expected
- Financial bureau head admits official asked Moritomo to lie about reason for land discount
- Bad Omen for Markets from First Signs of Yield Curve Inversion
- Japanese Yen Shrugs at BoP Misses, Focus Squarely On Trade Spat
CFTC Positioning Data (Week Ending April 3rd, 2018)
- EUR long 134K vs 141K long last week. Longs trimmed 7K
- GBP long 40K vs 34K long last week. Longs increased by 6K.
- JPY long 4K vs 4K short last week. Longs increased by 8K.
- CHF short 10K vs 9K short last week. Shorts increased by 1K
- CAD short 32K vs 27K short last week. Shorts increased by 5K.
- AUD square vs 8k long last week. Longs trimmed 8K.
- NZD long 18K vs 18K long. No change.
Markets Update:
Asian equities traded in the green today, after a bounce in US stock futures helped shore up sentiment, and overcome headwinds from Friday’s sell-off, triggered by President Trump’s plan to impose USD 100B in additional tariffs on China.
Reports of a US attack in Syria, which were quickly denied by the Pentagon, did not evoke a reaction from the markets. Volumes are back to normal, as China reopens from the extended Ching Ming holidays.
Japanese markets are clearly positive, although it had a muted opening. Australian banks were the only sector on the ASX that traded in the red, after cameoing in the green. China did not seem to show any major directional cues – the Chinese markets have been dogged by the threat of trade war, especially US tariffs.
President Trump tweeted that he expected China to take down trade barriers, because it was the ‘right thing’ to do.
The latest souring of risk sentiment and a soft report on U.S. payrolls helped sovereign debt end last week on a firm note. Yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury debt nudged up to 2.797 percent on Monday, though that compared to a top of 2.8380 last week.
Yen edged lower against the majors, while the euro bounced from the trough of 1.2212 against the dollar. Gold eased slightly, whereas crude edged up.
Upcoming Events:
Monday, April 9th 2018
- 07:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Halifax HPI m/m
- 02:30 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Business Outlook Survey
- 10:00 PM GMT – (NZD) NZIER Business Confidence
Tuesday, April 10th 2018
- 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) NAB Business Confidence
- 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) MPC Member Haldane Speaks
- 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Building Permits m/m
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) PPI m/m
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core PPI m/m
Wednesday April 11th, 2018
- 01:30 AM GMT – (CNY) CPI y/y
- 01:30 AM GMT – (CNY) PPI y/y
- 05:05 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Gov Lowe Speaks
- 08:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Manufacturing Production m/m
- 08:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Goods Trade Balance
- 11:00 AM GMT – (EUR) ECB President Draghi Speaks
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) CPI m/m
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core CPI m/m
- 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Crude Oil Inventories
- 06:00 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Meeting Minutes
Thursday, April 12th 2018
- 12:30 AM GMT – (JPY) BOJ Gov Kuroda Speaks
- 06:30 AM GMT – (GBP) MPC Member Broadbent Speaks
- 08:30 AM GMT – (GBP) BOE Credit Conditions Survey
- 11:30 AM GMT – (EUR) ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts
- 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) NHPI m/m
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Claims
- 04:00 PM GMT – (EUR) German Buba President Weidmann Speaks
- 07:00 PM GMT – (GBP) BOE Gov Carney Speaks
- 10:30 PM GMT – (NZD) Business NZ Manufacturing Index
Friday April 13th 2018
- 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Financial Stability Review
- Tentative – (CNY) Trade Balance
- 02:00 PM GMT – (USD) Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment
