Monday 4th May: Asian markets lose on Trump’s comments on virus origins

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Global Markets:

  • Asian Stock Markets : Hang Seng down 4.47%, ASX up 1.41%
  • Commodities : Gold at $1713.90 (+0.76%), Silver at $15.07 (+0.88%), Brent Oil at $25.77 (-2.53%), WTI Oil at $18.37 (-7.13%)
  • Rates : US 10-year yield at 0.615, UK 10-year yield at 0.242, Germany 10-year yield at -0.562

News & Data:

  • (USD) Wards Total Vehicle Sales 8.6M vs 7.0M expected
  • (USD) ISM Manufacturing Prices 35.3 vs 30.7 expected
  • (USD) Construction Spending m/m 0.90% vs -3.50% expected
  • (USD) ISM Manufacturing PMI 41.5 vs 36.7 expected
  • (USD) Final Manufacturing PMI 36.1 vs 36.9 expected
  • (CAD) Manufacturing PMI 33 vs 46.1 previous
  • (GBP) Net Lending to Individuals m/m 1.0B vs 4.2B expected
  • (GBP) Mortgage Approvals 56K vs 59K expected
  • (GBP) M4 Money Supply m/m 2.80% vs 0.20% expected
  • (GBP) Final Manufacturing PMI 32.6 vs 32.8 expected

CFTC Positioning Data:

  • EUR long 80K vs 87K long last week. Shorts trimmed by 7K
  • GBP short 7K vs 1K short last week. Shorts increased by 6K
  • JPY long 32K vs 26K long last week. Longs increased by 6K
  • CHF long 6K vs 5K long last week. Longs increased by 1K
  • AUD short 38k vs 35K short last week. Shorts increased by 3K
  • NZD short 14K vs 14K short last week. Unchanged
  • CAD short 29k vs 24K short last week. Shorts increased by 5K.

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday following the sharp losses on Wall Street Friday on disappointing earnings results from online retail giant Amazon and on rising tensions between the U.S. and China over the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there was a “significant amount of evidence” linking the coronavirus to a lab in China’s Wuhan region.

The markets in Japan, China and Thailand are closed for holidays. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 4.5% as the U.S. -China tensions flared. South Korea’s KOSPI is down by 2.7%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 bucked the overall trend as it recovered from its earlier slip to close 1.4% higher.

In commodity markets, U.S. crude futures recovered from early lows but were kept under pressure by worries about oil oversupply and crumbling demand, even as some U.S. states and cities start to ease coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 99.32 after declining from levels above 100 last week.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 04, 2020

  • Tentative – (EUR) EU Economic Forecasts

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

  • 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) Cash Rate
  • 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Rate Statement
  • Tentative – (EUR) German Constitutional Court Ruling
  • 08:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Final Services PMI
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Trade Balance
  • 02:00 PM GMT – (USD) ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
  • 10:45 PM GMT – (NZD) Employment Change q/q
  • 10:45 PM GMT – (NZD) Unemployment Rate

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

  • 12:15 PM GMT – (USD) ADP Non-Farm Employment Change

Thursday, May 07, 2020

  • 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) Trade Balance
  • 01:45 AM GMT – (CNY) Caixin Services PMI
  • 03:00 AM GMT – (NZD) Inflation Expectations q/q
  • Tentative – (CNY) Trade Balance
  • Tentative – (CNY) USD-Denominated Trade Balance
  • 06:00 AM GMT – (GBP) BOE Monetary Policy Report
  • 06:00 AM GMT – (GBP) MPC Official Bank Rate Votes
  • 06:00 AM GMT – (GBP) Monetary Policy Summary
  • 06:00 AM GMT – (GBP) Official Bank Rate
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Claims

Friday, May 08, 2020

  • 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Monetary Policy Statement
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Employment Change
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Unemployment Rate
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Rate