Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.61%, Shanghai Composite down 0.35%, Hang Seng down 0.31%, ASX flat
- Commodities : Gold at $1306.85 (-0.11%), Silver at $15.16 (-0.35%), Brent Oil at $70.72 (+0.16%), WTI Oil at $64.15 (+0.27%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.488, UK 10-year yield at 1.103, Germany 10-year yield at -0.010
News & Data:
- (AUD) Westpac Consumer Sentiment 1.90% vs -4.80% previous
- (JPY) PPI y/y 1.30% vs 1.00% expected
- (JPY) Core Machinery Orders m/m 1.80% vs 3.00% expected
- (JPY) Bank Lending y/y 2.40% vs 2.30% expected
- (USD) IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism 54.2 vs 53.2 expected
- (USD) JOLTS Job Openings 7.09M vs 7.54M expected
- (USD) NFIB Small Business Index 101.8 vs 101.3 expected
- (GBP) 10-y Bond Auction 1.11|2.3 vs 1.16|2.1 previous
- (EUR) Italian Retail Sales m/m 0.10% vs -0.20% expected
- MF Cancels Globally Synchronized Growth, Confirms The Worst Case
- RBA’s Debelle: Labour Market Has Been Surprisingly Strong – Leading Indicators Of Employment Remain Solid
Markets Update:
Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower on Wednesday as the U.S. threatened to slap tariffs on goods from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast to the lowest level since the financial crisis, citing heightened trade tensions.
Safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and gold were in demand as investors awaited the start of the U.S. corporate earnings season, with financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) due to report their quarterly results on Friday.
Mainland Chinese stocks declined by the morning session’s end, with the Shanghai composite falling 0.4 percent and the Shenzhen component slipping about 0.3 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined 0.3 percent as shares of HSBC declined. South Korea’s Kospi, however, recovered from its earlier slip to trade fractionally higher as chipmaker SK Hynix saw its stock gain around 0.4 percent.
Over in Australia, the ASX 200 was flat, after the country’s central bank deputy governor said in a speech that it was attempting to ascertain the appropriate policy path amid “conflicting signals ” from the labor market, GDP data and business surveys. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.6 percent in afternoon trade as shares of index heavyweight Fanuc fell about 0.6 percent.
Major currencies were little moved with an immediate focus on the European leaders’ summit and the European Central Bank’s policy meeting. Global debt yields held mostly steady, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield at 2.49 percent, off its 15-month low of 2.340 percent touched late last month.
Oil prices held firm after hitting five-month highs the previous day as fighting in Libya raised supply disruption concerns.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) GDP m/m
- 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Manufacturing Production m/m
- 12:45 PM GMT – (EUR) Main Refinancing Rate
- 12:45 PM GMT – (EUR) Monetary Policy Statement
- 01:30 PM GMT – (EUR) ECB Press Conference
- 01:30 PM GMT – (USD) CPI m/m
- 01:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core CPI m/m
- 04:50 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Quarles Speaks
- 07:00 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Meeting Minutes
- &more….
