Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.16%, Shanghai Composite up 0.39%, Hang Seng up 0.45%, ASX down 0.55%
- Commodities : Gold at $1284.45 (-0.07%), Silver at $14.56 (-0.35%), Brent Oil at $68.47 (+1.05%), WTI Oil at $58.52 (+1.05%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.322, UK 10-year yield at 0.942, Germany 10-year yield at -0.115
News & Data:
- (NZD) Trade Balance 433M vs 450M expected
- (EUR) German Ifo Business Climate 97.9 vs 99.2 expected
- (EUR) Flash Services PMI 52.5 vs 53 expected
- (EUR) Flash Manufacturing PMI 47.7 vs 48.2 expected
- (EUR) German Flash Services PMI 55 vs 55.2 expected
- (EUR) German Flash Manufacturing PMI 44.3 vs 44.9 expected
- (EUR) French Flash Manufacturing PMI 50.6 vs 50.1 expected
- (EUR) French Flash Services PMI 51.7 vs 50.7 expected
- China President Xi said to have ruled out the possibility to meet with US President Trump at G20
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets were mixed on Friday, with sentiment torn between investors worried that the U.S.-China trade war was becoming more protracted, and others hopeful that the world’s two largest economies would reach a settlement soon.
Mainland Chinese markets mostly declined, with the Shanghai composite down 0.4%, and the Shenzhen composite also in negative territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 0.4%.n Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 pared some losses from earlier, falling 0.2% while the Topix index was flat. Australia’s ASX 200 was lower by 0.6% as the heavily weighted financial subindex declined 0.8%.
As flight-to-safety plays dominated global markets, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield hit 2.292%, the lowest level since mid-October 2017, with the key parts of the yield curve inverted. The dollar index, which measures it against six major currencies, hit a high of 98.371 on Thursday U.S. time. It was last quoted at 97.847, little changed on the day. The euro on Thursday slumped to levels last seen in May 2017 as a recovery in euro zone business activity was weaker than expected. Other major currencies were relatively calm. The dollar was holding at 109.59 yen, flat on the day.
In commodity markets, oil prices tumbled on Thursday as trade tensions dampened the demand outlook, with the crude benchmarks posting their biggest daily falls in six months.
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