Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.34%, Shanghai Composite down 1.32%, Hang Seng down 1.01%, ASX up 0.58%
- Commodities : Gold at $1231.70 (+0.35%), Silver at $14.45 (+0.24%), Brent Oil at $59.05 (-0.07%), WTI Oil at $50.51 (+0.40%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 3.021, UK 10-year yield at 1.376, Germany 10-year yield at 0.339
News & Data:
- (AUD) Private Capital Expenditure q/q -0.50% vs 1.10% expected
- (NZD) ANZ Business Confidence -37.1 vs -37.1 previous
- (USD) Crude Oil Inventories 3.6M vs 0.6M expected
- (USD) Prelim GDP q/q 3.50% vs 3.60% expected
- NZ dollar pares some overnight gains after weak business confidence
- Italy’s Conte said to be ‘optimistic’ that 2.2% budget deficit can avoid EU procedures
- Russia not ‘abandoning’ the greenback, its the US dollar that’s ‘abandoning’ Russia – Putin
Markets Update:
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street, after the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve suggested it may nearing an end to its three-year rate tightening cycle, boosting interest in riskier assets. Markets in China and Hong Kong were the visible exception.
Investor sentiment was also boosted by optimism that the U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit later this week will help ease trade tensions between the two countries.
Greater China markets lost their early momentum and declined in the afternoon: The Shanghai composite gave up gains to trade down 1.3 percent while the Shenzhen composite lost 2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1 percent. Australian stocks gained 0.6 percent. The Japanese market is rising for a fifth straight day with the benchmark Nikkei gaining 0.3%, tracking the overnight rally on Wall Street amid renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates and despite a stronger yen.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies inched down to 96.731 following an overnight loss of 0.6 percent. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.013 percent, its lowest since Sept. 18, following Powell’s comments. The two-year Treasury yield was down for the third straight session. Oil prices clawed back some ground from losses in the previous session, but an increase in U.S. crude inventories and uncertainty in the run to an OPEC meeting next week kept markets under pressure.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:00 AM GMT – (EUR) ECB President Draghi Speaks
- 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Net Lending to Individuals m/m
- 02:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Current Account
- 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core PCE Price Index m/m
- 12:00 AM GMT – (USD) Personal Spending m/m
- 08:00 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Meeting Minutes
