Asia-Pacific markets are higher today, following another brilliant performance for the US market yesterday as the Bank of Japan again left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at -0.1% and stated that inflation is slowing and it is closely monitoring the FX market. Additionally, in Japan the opposition filed a vote of no confidence for the cabinet a few hours ago. Meanwhile, further stimulus, both monetary and measures to support the housing market, is expected from the PBOC.
Yesterday’s US data was generally mixed but good retail sales stand out (+0.3% vs. +0.1% exp) ahead of today’s Michigan Consumer Confidence data. This helped the US indices have another great session: US500 is now +3% for the week, up 6 days in a row for its longest winning streak since Nov21; US100 is up +4% this week only, 8 weeks in a row (longest since Mar19). The weakness of the USD was another reason for the good US performance yesterday and it has increased after the ECB press conference where Lagarde maintained a very hawkish posture after raising rates by 25 bps. Day today, Quadruple Witching.
- FX – The USDIndex has dropped –1.24% to 101.76, now trading at 101.70. EUR has breached above 1.09, now 1.0954, Cable above 1.28, AUD touched 0.6899, JPY weak and approaching 141 again (104.83 now).
- Stocks – China, HK, Australia benchmarks all rose, Nikkei recovered from previous losses, now trading at 33687. US500 +1.22% at 4425, US100 +1.20%, US30 +1.26%. Microsoft hits a new ATH (+3.19% at 348,10), Oracle, Alibaba > +3%, Adobe jumps +3% in afterhours after beating results, Virgin Galactic +40% in afterhours.
- Commodities – USOil – +3.64% at $70.68, Gold – recovered from a low at $1924, now trading at $1960.
Today – Quadruple Witching Day, EU HICP, US Michigan Consumer Sentiment
Biggest FX Mover @ (06:30 GMT) ZARJPY (+0.74%) on a strong uptrend since 2nd Jun, trading at 7.74 now. RSI sloped upward (66.3), MACD positive and histogram just crossed the line on the H1 timeframe.
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Marco Turatti
Market Analyst
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