Tag Archive: Japan

Rate Adjustment Continues and the Greenback Pares the Week’s Losses

2021-10-29

by

2021-10-29

Overview:  Disappointing Apple and Amazon earnings news after the NASDAQ set a record high set the stage of a weaker bias in the Asia Pacific region today.  China and Japan still posted gains, while local developments, like an unexpected drop in South Korea's industrial output, and Australia struggling to exit its yield-curve control, saw equities lose more than 1%.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is paring this week's gains but is holding on to some for the...

Read More »

Eyes Turn to the ECB and the First Look at Q3 US GDP

2021-10-28

by

2021-10-28

Overview:  The market awaits the ECB meeting and the first look at the US Q3 GDP.  The pullback in US shares yesterday was a drag on the Asia Pacific equities.  It is the first back-to-back loss of the MSCI Asia Pacific in a few weeks.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is recovering from early weakness and US future indices are firm.  The US 10-year yield is flat, around 1.55%, after falling around 15 bp over the past four sessions.  European bonds are paring...

Read More »

An Anti-Inflation Trio From Three Years Ago

2021-10-26

by

2021-10-26

Do the similarities outweigh the differences? We better hope not. There is a lot about 2021 that is shaping up in the same way as 2018 had (with a splash of 2013 thrown in for disgust). Guaranteed inflation, interest rates have nowhere to go but up, and a certified rocking recovery restoring worldwide potential.

Read More »

Big Week Begins Slowly

2021-10-25

by

2021-10-25

Overview:  The global capital markets give little indication of the important economic and earnings data that lie ahead this week.  There is an eerie calm. Equities in Asia were mixed.  Japan and Hong Kong, and most small bourses were lower.  Last week, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained almost 0.9%. Europe's Stoxx 600 is little changed after rising about 0.5% last week. US futures are firm.  The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials reached...

Read More »

You Don’t Have To Take My Word For It About Eliminating QE

2021-10-24

by

2021-10-24

You don’t have to take my word for it. QE doesn’t work and it never has. That’s not just my assessment, pull out any chart of interest rates for wherever gets the misfortune of having been wasted with one of these LSAP’s.

Read More »

The Euro and Sterling Remain within Tuesday’s Ranges

2021-10-22

by

2021-10-22

Overview: A new record high in the S&P 500 yesterday and news that Evergrande had made an interest rate payment failed to lift most Asia Pacific bourses, though Japan and Hong Kong, among the large markets, posted modest gains.  The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is pushing higher in the European morning to put its finishing touches on its third consecutive weekly gain.  US tech is trading off, and this is weighing on the NASDAQ futures while the S&P...

Read More »

Markets Turn Cautious

2021-10-21

by

2021-10-21

Overview: After a couple of sessions of taking on more risk, investors are taking a break today.  Equities are mostly lower today after the S&P 500's six-day advance took it almost to its record high, while the NASDAQ's streak was halted at five sessions.

Read More »

Consolidative Session as Markets Await Fresh Incentives

2021-10-20

by

2021-10-20

Overview: The markets lack a clear direction today and await fresh incentives.  After gaining almost 1% yesterday, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped.  Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia are among the few equity markets that rose.

Read More »

Dollar Slumps

2021-10-19

by

2021-10-19

Overview:  While equities and bonds are firmer, it is the dollar's sell-off that stands out today.  The greenback has retreated broadly.   

Read More »

The Euro Remains Within Last Wednesday’s Range

2021-10-12

by

2021-10-12

Overview:  A weak close in US equity trading yesterday and the widening of China's "cultural revolution" for a two-month investigation of the financial sector stopped a three-day advance in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.  China, South Korea, and Taiwan saw more than a 1% decline in their major indices. 

Read More »

FX Daily, October 11: Rate Expectation Adjustment Continues

2021-10-11

by

2021-10-11

Overview:  Equities are softer and yields higher to start the new week.  The dollar is mixed.  Oil and industrial metals are higher. There are several developments over the weekend, but the focus seems to be on central bank action, inflation reports by the US and China, and the start of the Q3 earnings season. 

Read More »

Weekly Market Pulse: Zooming Out

2021-10-03

by

2021-10-03

How often do you check your brokerage account? There is a famous economics paper from 1997, written by some of the giants in behavioral finance (Thaler, Kahnemann, Tversky & Schwartz), that tested what is known as myopic loss aversion.

Read More »

Hard to Be Sterling

2021-09-29

by

2021-09-29

Overview: Energy prices pulled back late yesterday, but it offered little reprieve to the bond market where the 10-year benchmark yields in the US, UK, Sweden, and Switzerland reached new three-month highs.  November WTI traded to almost $76.70 before reversing lower and leaving a potentially bearish shooting star candlestick in its wake. 

Read More »

August Avoids Zero In JGB’s

2021-09-28

by

2021-09-28

Central banks and their staffs have long been accused of trying to hide inflation. This allegation had been a staple of their critics, those charging reckless monetary policies for creating “too much” money that had allegedly been causing price imbalances all over the financial map.

Read More »

FX Daily, September 15: China Disappoints, but the Yuan Remains Strong

2021-09-15

by

2021-09-15

The sixth decline of the S&P 500 in the past seven sessions set a negative tone for equity trading in the Asia Pacific region, and the poor Chinese data did not help matters.  News that China's troubled Evergrande would miss next week's interest payment weighed on sentiment too.

Read More »

Is it Really all about US CPI?

2021-09-14

by

2021-09-14

Overview:  The markets are in a wait-and-see mode, it appears, ahead of the US CPI figures, as it absorbs bond supply from Europe and monitors the potential restructuring of China's Evergrande.  A new storm may hit US oil and gas in the Gulf before recovering from the past storm and helping to underpin prices.

Read More »

The Greenback Continues to Claw Back Recent Losses

2021-09-08

by

2021-09-08

Overview:  The US dollar continues to pare its recent losses and is firm against most major currencies in what has the feel of a risk-off day.  The other funding currencies, yen and Swiss franc, are steady, while the euro is heavy but holding up better than the Scandis and dollar-bloc currencies.  Emerging market currencies are also lower, and the JP Morgan EM FX index is off for the third consecutive session. 

Read More »

Risk Appetites Return from Holiday

2021-08-23

by

2021-08-23

Overview: After an ugly week, market participants have returned with strong risk appetites.  Equities are rebounding, and the greenback is paring recent gains.  Bond yields are firm, as are commodities.  Asia Pacific equities got the ball rolling with more than 1% gains in several large markets, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. 

Read More »

Consolidative Mood Grips Markets

2021-08-18

by

2021-08-18

Overview:  The dollar is consolidating yesterday's advance and is confined to fairly narrow ranges in quiet turnover.  Most of the major currencies are within 0.1% of yesterday's close near midday in Europe. The $1.1700-level held in the euro. 

Read More »

Weekly Market Pulse: Happy Anniversary!

2021-08-16

by

2021-08-16

Today is the 50th anniversary of the “Nixon shock”, the day President Richard Nixon closed the gold window and ended the post-WWII Bretton Woods currency agreement. That agreement, largely a product of John Maynard Keynes, pegged the dollar to gold and most other currencies to the dollar.

Read More »