Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.06%, Shanghai Composite up 0.56%, Hang Seng up 0.40%, ASX up 0.38%
- Commodities : Gold at $1280.75 (-0.25%), Silver at $15.33 (-0.34%), Brent Oil at $60.87 (-0.44%), WTI Oil at $52.39 (-0.44%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.746, UK 10-year yield at 1.326, Germany 10-year yield at 0.233
News & Data:
- (AUD) Unemployment Rate 5.00% vs 5.10% expected
- (AUD) Employment Change 21.6K vs 17.3K expected
- (CAD) Retail Sales m/m -0.90% vs -0.60% expected
- (CAD) Core Retail Sales m/m -0.60% vs -0.40% expected
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Thursday with modest gains following the positive cues from Wall Street on upbeat corporate earnings results. Nevertheless, investors are cautious amid worries about slowing global economic growth, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown and uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks.
The mainland Chinese markets, watched in relation to the ongoing trade fight between Beijing and Washington, recovered from earlier losses. The Shanghai composite rose around 0.5 percent and the Shenzhen component advanced 0.7 percent. The Shenzhen composite gained 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also climbed by 0.4 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225, however, slipped 0.1 percent in afternoon trade while the Topix index recovered from earlier losses to gain 0.3 percent. Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 bounced higher 0.4 percent with the energy sector adding more than 2 percent.
The ECB is widely expected to stay on hold at its first monetary policy meeting of 2019 that ends later on Thursday, but may acknowledge a sharp slowdown in growth, raising the prospect that any further policy normalization could be delayed. The dollar hit a year-to-date high of 110.00 yen against the Japanese currency after the BOJ kept its policy on hold the previous day. Solid Australian jobs data for December helped give the Aussie dollar a boost early in the session. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell to 2.744 percent compared with its U.S. close of 2.755 percent on Wednesday.
In commodity markets, oil prices extended losses from Wednesday as the EU sought to circumvent U.S. trade sanctions against Iran, and on weaker U.S. gasoline prices.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:15 AM GMT – (EUR) French Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 09:15 AM GMT – (EUR) French Flash Services PMI
- 09:30 AM GMT – (EUR) German Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 09:30 AM GMT – (EUR) German Flash Services PMI
- 10:00 AM GMT – (EUR) Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 10:00 AM GMT – (EUR) Flash Services PMI
- Day 2 – (All) WEF Annual Meetings
- 01:45 PM GMT – (EUR) Main Refinancing Rate
- 02:30 PM GMT – (EUR) ECB Press Conference
- &more…
