Wall Street succumbed to further profit taking as concerns over tech weighed. This morning, stock markets headed south across Asia, as markets wait for the key US CPI numbers due to be released today. The USDindex tumbled into the close with the index sliding to 104.573 from the day’s high of 104.918 after a Reuters report said the ECB saw inflation holding over 3% in 2024. European and US futures are in the red and yields are moving higher with Eurozone markets underperforming after the Reuters source story.
Today so far: UK GDP contracted -0.5% m/m in July, more than expected and wiping out the 0.5% gain in the previous month. The three month trend rate remained steady at 0.2%. Industrial production contracted -0.7% m/m, services fell -0.5% m/m and construction output declined -0.5% m/m. The visible trade deficit narrowed somewhat, but that will also be due to lower energy prices. Wet weather and strikes are partly to blame, but the numbers also tie in with weaker survey numbers and a wider weakness in activity, with the UK economy set to move essentially sideways over the next quarter, after what was a quicker bounce back from the pandemic than initially reported. For the BoE that means further hikes after the likely move this month seem increasingly less likely.
- FX – USDIndex at 104.742, up from a session low of 104.515. EURUSD dipped to 1.0730 from 1.0764 and GBPUSD retested its 1.2440 low. USDJPY higher at 147.30.
- Stocks – The US100 led the declines with a -1.04% drop, while the US500 fell -0.57% and the US30 slipped -0.04%. A lot of the weakness stemmed from Apple and Oracle with the former hit by more fallout from China’s restrictions on iPhones, while the latter suffered from a poor earnings report. Apple’s iPhone 15 launch did not provide much support.
- Commodities – Oil prices have remained supported ahead of the CPI report and on forecasts by OPEC and the US that output cuts will tighten the market in the months ahead. USOIL is at $88.50.
- Gold has corrected to $1908 as the USDIndex has nudged up from early lows and is starting to eye the 105 mark again, which is keeping a lid on the precious metal, although gold is still up more than 12.5% over the year.
Key Movers: AUDUSD (H1 chart) in a 3-day downchannel with key Resistance intraday at 0.6410 and 0.6420.
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Andria Pichidi
Market Analyst
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