Tag Archive: Australia

Downside Risks to the US Employment Report?

2022-08-05

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2022-08-05

Overview: The US dollar enjoys a firmer bias against the major currencies ahead of the July employment data. Emerging market currencies are mixed. Asian currencies are generally firm while central Europe is a bit softer. Some detect a relaxation in tensions around Taiwan, though China’s aerial harassment continues. Taiwanese shares jumped 2.25% to lead the region that saw China’s CSI 300 rally over 1%. Europe’s Stoxx 600 is giving back yesterday’s...

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Over to the BOE

2022-08-04

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2022-08-04

Overview: Strong gains in US equities yesterday and easing fears following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan helped lift most Asia Pacific equities, with Hong Kong leading the way with a 2% rally. Taiwan, Australia, and India did not participate in the regional rally. The Stoxx 600 is edging higher today. It was flat on the week through yesterday. US futures are a little firmer. The greenback is offered against the major currencies led the Antipodeans. The...

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Attention Turns to US GDP, Ahead of Tomorrow’s EMU GDP and CPI

2022-07-28

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2022-07-28

Overview: The Federal Reserve delivered its second consecutive 75 bp rate hike, and Chair Powell left the door open for another large hike at the next meeting in September. Yet, the market took away a dovish message and the dollar suffered, rates slipped, and equities rallied.

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Dismal EMU Flash PMI on Heels of First ECB Rate Hike since 2011

2022-07-22

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2022-07-22

Overview:  The euro is over a cent lower from yesterday’s peak, pressured by the drop in the flash PMI composite below 50 for the first time since early last year. More generally, the flash PMIs have shown the global economic momentum is waning, and the bond markets have responded accordingly. The US 10-year yield is flirting with 2.80%, its lowest level in more than two weeks. European yields are 15-20 bp lower and the spread between Italian and...

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Johnson Resigns, but Still not Clear if He Controls the Timing

2022-07-07

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2022-07-07

Overview: The resignation of a UK prime minister makes for high political drama, but the markets hardly moved on it. Sterling, like most of the major currencies, are recovering against the dollar today.

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Is a 0.3% Miss on Headline CPI Really Worth a 77 bp Rise in the December Fed Funds Yield?

2022-06-15

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2022-06-15

Overview: Better than expected Chinese data and an unscheduled ECB meeting are the highlights ahead of the North American session that features the May US retail sales report and other high frequency data before the outcome of the FOMC meeting.

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Dollar Gains Pared

2022-06-02

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2022-06-02

Asia Pacific equities were mostly lower.  China and India bucked the trend.  Europe’s Stoxx 600 is steady with no follow through selling after yesterday reversal. US index futures are posting modest gains and are trying to snap a two-day drop. 

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Bank of Canada’s Turn

2022-06-01

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2022-06-01

Overview: The recent equity rally is stalling. Asia Pacific equities were mixed, with Japan, South Korea, and Australia, among the major bourses posting gains. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 500 is slipping lower for the second consecutive session, ending a four-day bounce. US equity futures are little changed.

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Synchronizing Chinese Prices (and consequences)

2022-05-14

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2022-05-14

It isn’t just the vast difference between Chinese consumer prices and those in the US or Europe, China’s CPI has been categorically distinct from China’s PPI, too. That distance hints at the real problem which the whole is just now beginning to confront, having been lulled into an inflationary illusion made up from all these things.

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China’s Covid Sends Commodities Lower and helps the Dollar Extend Gains

2022-04-25

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2022-04-25

Overview:  Fears that the Chinese lockdowns to fight Covid, which have extended for four weeks in Shanghai, are not working, and may be extended to Beijing has whacked equity markets, arrested the increase in bond yields, and lifted the dollar. 

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Short Covering in the US Treasury Market Extends the Yield Pullback

2022-04-14

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2022-04-14

Overview: What appears to be a powerful short-covering rally in the US debt market has helped steady equities and weighed on the dollar.  Singapore and South Korea joined New Zealand and Canada in tightening monetary policy.  Attention turns to the ECB now on the eve of a long-holiday weekend for many members.  The tech-sector led the US equity recovery yesterday, snapping a three-day decline.  Most of the major markets in Asia Pacific advanced but...

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New Day, Same as the Old Day

2022-04-12

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2022-04-12

Overview:  It is a new day, but with the continued rise in interest rates and weaker equities, it feels like yesterday.  Only China and Hong Kong among the major markets in Asia Pacific resisted the pull lower.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is off by more than 0.5% led by health care and real estate. It is the fourth loss in five sessions and brings the benchmark to its lowest level since March 18.  US futures are flattish. 

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Equities Finding a Bid in Europe After Sliding in Asia Pacific

2022-04-08

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2022-04-08

Overview:  The capital markets are calmer today.  The market is digesting the FOMC minutes, where officials tipped an aggressive path to shrink the balance sheet and confirmed an "expeditious" campaign to lift the Fed funds rate to neutrality.  Benchmark 10-year yields are softer, with the US off a couple basis points to 2.58%.  European yields are 1-3 bp lower. 

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RBA Drops “patience” to Send the Aussie Higher

2022-04-05

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2022-04-05

Overview: The Reserve Bank of Australia hinted that it was getting closer to a rate hike.  The Australian dollar was bid to its best level since the middle of last year.  Australian stocks advanced in a mixed regional session while China and Hong Kong markets were closed for the local holiday.  BOJ Kuroda called the yen's recent moves "rapid."  The yen is sidelined today as the dollar weakens against other major currencies, led by the...

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Weekly Market Pulse: Oil Shock

2022-03-08

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2022-03-08

Crude oil prices rose over 25% last week and as I sit down to write this evening the overnight futures are up another 8% to around $125. Almost every other commodity on the planet rose in prices last week too, as did the dollar. Those two factors – rising dollar and rising commodity prices – mean the likelihood of recession in the coming year has risen significantly in just the last week.

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European Currencies Continue to Bear the Brunt

2022-03-03

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2022-03-03

Overview: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the global response is a game-changer, as Fed Chair Powell told Congress yesterday.  The UK-based research group NISER estimated that world output will be cut by 1% next year or $1 trillion, and global inflation will be boosted by three percentage points this year and two next. 

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As The Fed Seeks To Justify Raising Rates, Global Growth Rates Have Been Falling Off Uniformly Around The World

2022-01-08

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2022-01-08

Sentiment indicators like PMI’s are nice and all, but they’re hardly top-tier data. It’s certainly not their fault, these things are made for very times than these (piggy-backing on the ISM Manufacturing’s long history without having the long history). Most of them have come out since 2008, if only because of the heightened professional interest in macroeconomics generated by a global macro economy that can never get itself going.

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Fed Unleashes Animal Spirits

2021-12-16

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2021-12-16

Overview:  The Fed's hawkish pivot came a few weeks before yesterday's FOMC meeting, which confirmed more or less what the market had already largely anticipated. Buy the (dollar) on rumors (of tapering and more aggressive stance on rates) and sell the fact unfolded, and unleashed the risk-appetites which rippled through the capital markets. US stocks rallied yesterday, and the futures point to a gap higher opening today. Large Asia Pacific...

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Dollar Starts the Week Bid ahead of the FOMC

2021-12-13

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2021-12-13

Overview: Equities, bonds, and the dollar begin the new week on a firm note.  Japanese, Chinese, Australian, and New Zealand equities advanced in the Asia Pacific region.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is snapping a three-day decline, and US futures are 0.25%-0.35% higher.  The US 10-year yield is a little softer at 1.48%. European benchmark yields are mostly 1-2 bp lower, and near 0.71%, the UK Gilt's yield is at a three-month low.  The dollar is rising...

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The Greenback Finds Traction ahead of the Jobs Report

2021-12-03

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2021-12-03

Overview:  The Omicron variant has been detected in more countries, but the capital markets are taking it in stride.  Risk appetites appear to be stabilizing.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose for the third consecutive session, though Hong Kong and Taiwan markets did not participate in the advance today.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is struggling to hold on to early gains, while US futures are narrowly mixed.  The US 10-year yield is a little near 1.43%,...

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