Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei lost 0.31 %, Shanghai Composite fell 0.17 %, Hang Seng down 0.47 %, ASX 200 fell 0.11 %
- Commodities: Gold at $1326.79 (-0.09 %), Silver at $17.78 (-0.45 %), WTI Oil at $49.23 (-0.14 %), Brent Oil at $55.02 (-0.25%)
- Rates: US 10-year yield at 2.18, UK 10-year yield at 1.14, German 10-year yield at 0.40
News & Data:
- (AUD) Employment Change 54.2 vs 17.5 K expected
- (AUD) Unemployment Rate 5.6 % vs 5.6 % expected
- (CNY) Industrial Production y/y 6.0 % vs 6.6 % expected
- (CNY) Fixed Asset Investment ytd/y 7.8 % vs 8.2 % expected
- (USD) PPI m/m 0.2 % vs 0.3 % expected
- (USD) Core PPI m/m 0.1 % vs 0.2 % expected
- (USD) Crude Oil Inventories 5.9 M vs 4.1 M expected
- (GBP) Average Earnings Index 3m/y 2.1 % vs 2.3 % expected
- (GBP) Claimant Count Change -2.8 K vs 0.8 K expected
- (GBP) Unemployment Rate 4.3 % vs 4.4 % expected
- (CHF) PPI m/m 0.3 % vs 0.2 % expected
Markets Update:
Asian Equity markets were mostly flat on Thursday trading down from 10-year highs after disappointing economic data out of China and investors awaiting a rate decision from the Bank of England. Markets also digested the rise in U.S. Treasury yields overnight following tax reform headlines out of Washington, although the dollar’s advance paused.
USD/JPY is currently seen trading at 110.45 down from the highs of 110.70. The pair had a very small dip in late NY/early Asia with NBC tweeting that North Korea was seen to be prepping for a missile launch. However, the dollar continues to extend gains against the Yen, gaining over 0.3 percent on Wednesday.
The Australian Dollar had a very active session, following a slight drop towards 0.7970 ahead of the Jobs report, the Aussie jumped as high as 0.8016 against the US Dollar after positive jobs data. AUDUSD is currently seen trading at around 0.8000 losing some of its earlier gains as Movements in the Aussie dollar are influenced by China data due to Australia’s dependence on exports.
EUR/USD is currently seen trading at 1.1875 losing around 0.1 percent earlier in the session, following a 0.7 percent drop the previous day. The dollar index measured against a basket of six major currencies is currently valued at 92.47 after touching 92.530 overnight, its highest since Sept. 5.
Upcoming Events:
- 07:30 GMT – (CHF) Libor Rate
- 07:30 GMT – (CHF) SNB Monetary Policy Assessment
- 11:00GMT – (GBP) MPC Official Bank Rate Votes
- 11:00GMT – (GBP) Monetary Policy Summary
- 11:00GMT – (GBP) Official Bank Rate
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) CPI m/m
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) Core CPI m/m
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) Unemployment Claims
- 15:30 GMT – (EUR) German Buba President Weidmann Speaks
- 22:30 GMT – (NZD) Business NZ Manufacturing Index
