Monday 5th November: Asian Markets Lower as Sentiment Sours

Global Markets:

• Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 1.63%, Shanghai Composite down 0.81%, Hang Seng down 2.27%, ASX down 0.53%
• Commodities : Gold at $1233.20 (-0.01%), Silver at $14.71 (-0.35%), Brent Oil at $72.48 (-0.48%), WTI Oil at $62.77 (-0.59%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 3.207, UK 10-year yield at 1.495, Germany 10-year yield at 0.438

News & Data:

• (USD) Unemployment Rate 3.70% vs 3.70% expected
• (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change 250K vs 194K expected
• (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m 0.20% vs 0.20% expected
• (CAD) Trade Balance -0.4B vs 0.2B expected
• (CAD) Unemployment Rate 5.80% vs 5.90% expected
• (CAD) Employment Change 11.2K vs 12.7K expected
• (GBP) Construction PMI 53.2 vs 52 expected
• U.S. Reimposes sanctions on Iranian oil transactions
• China's president Xi says China will not stop efforts to pursue higher quality of opening up

CFTC Positioning Data:

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday following the negative cues from Wall Street on Friday amid worries about U.S.-China trade tensions after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed hopes of an imminent trade deal. In addition, upbeat U.S. jobs data for the month of October led to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping tried to position China as a globalization champion in a major speech. Xi's opening speech kicked off the week-long China International Import Expo that seeks to promote the world's second largest economy as a major consumer of global goods. That said, Chinese shares traded down:

The Shanghai composite declined 0.8 percent while the Shenzhen composite traded down 0.67 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 2.3 percent. Australia's ASX 200 struggled for gains, trading down 0.53 percent as most sectors declined. The energy sector was off 1.38 percent as oil stocks mostly sold off.

The U.S. dollar struggled to hold gains made on Friday following the upbeat jobs data. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was last off 0.1 percent at 96.459. In commodities, oil prices fell as the start to U.S. sanctions against Iran's fuel exports was softened by waivers that will allow some countries to still import Iranian crude, at least temporarily.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, November 05, 2018

• 02:00 AM GMT – (JPY) BOJ Gov Kuroda Speaks
• 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Services PMI
• 02:10 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Gov Poloz Speaks
• 04:00 PM GMT – (USD) ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI

Tuesday, November 06, 2018

• 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Rate Statement
• 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) Cash Rate
• All Day GMT – (USD) Congressional Elections
• 10:45 PM GMT – (NZD) Employment Change q/q
• 10:45 PM GMT – (NZD) Unemployment Rate

Wednesday, November 07, 2018

• 01:00 AM GMT – (JPY) Average Cash Earnings y/y
• 03:00 AM GMT – (NZD) Inflation Expectations q/q
• 03:00 PM GMT – (CHF) Gov Board Member Zurbrugg Speaks
• 04:00 PM GMT – (CAD) Ivey PMI
• 04:30 PM GMT – (USD) Crude Oil Inventories
• 09:00 PM GMT – (NZD) Official Cash Rate
• 09:00 PM GMT – (NZD) RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement
• 09:00 PM GMT – (NZD) RBNZ Rate Statement
• 10:00 PM GMT – (NZD) RBNZ Press Conference

Thursday, November 08, 2018

• Tentative – (CNY) Trade Balance
• 11:00 AM GMT – (EUR) EU Economic Forecasts
• 06:30 PM GMT – (CHF) Gov Board Member Maechler Speaks
• 08:00 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Statement
• 08:00 PM GMT – (USD) Federal Funds Rate

Friday, November 09, 2018

• 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Monetary Policy Statement
• 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) GDP m/m
• 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Manufacturing Production m/m
• 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Prelim GDP q/q
• 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Prelim Business Investment q/q
• 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) PPI m/m
• 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core PPI m/m
• 03:05 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Quarles Speaks
• 04:00 PM GMT – (USD) Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment