Market Talk – December 17, 2020

Posted Dec 17, 2020 by Martin Armstrong |

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ASIA:

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

NIKKEI 225 increased 49.27 points or 0.18% to 26,806.67
Shanghai increased 37.89 points or 1.13% to 3,404.87
Hang Seng increased 218.09 points or 0.82% to 26,678.38
ASX 200 increased 77.50 points or 1.16% to 6,756.70
Kospi decreased 1.36 points or -0.05% to 2,770.43
SENSEX increased 223.88 points or 0.48% to 46,890.34
Nifty50 increased 58.00 points or 0.42% to 13,740.70

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

AUDUSD increased 0.00502 or 0.66% to 0.76189
NZDUSD increased 0.00374 or 0.53% to 0.71460
USDJPY decreased 036 or -0.35% to 103.12
USDCNY increased 0.00448 or 0.07% to 6.51408

Precious Metals:

Gold increased 21.43 USD/t oz. or 1.15% to 1,885.58
Silver increased 0.517 USD/t. oz or 2.04% to 25.853

Some economic news from last night:

Japan:

Foreign Bonds Buying decreased from 1,257.1B to 770.4B

Foreign Investments in Japanese Stocks increased from 42.3B to 159.9B

Singapore:

Non-Oil Exports (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -3.10% to -4.90%

Non-Oil Exports (MoM) (Nov) increased from -5.40% to 3.80%

Trade Balance decreased from 4.350B to 3.930B

Unemployment Rate (Q4) increased from 2.8% to 3.6%

Australia:

Employment Change (Nov) decreased from 178.8k to 90.0K

Full Employment Change (Nov) decreased from 97.0K to 84.2K

Participation Rate (Nov) increased from 65.8% to 66.1%

Unemployment Rate (Nov) decreased from 7.0% to 6.8%

New Zealand:

GDP (QoQ) (Q3) increased from -11.0% to 14.0%

GDP (YoY) (Q3) increased from -11.3% to 0.4%

GDP Annual Average (Q3) decreased from -1.7% to -2.2%

GDP Expenditure (QoQ) (Q3) increased from -9.5% to 15.6%

Some economic news from today:

Indonesia:

Deposit Facility Rate (Dec) remain the same at 3.00%

Lending Facility Rate (Dec) remain the same at 4.50%

Interest Rate Decision remain the same at 3.75%

Loans (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -0.47% to -1.39%

Hong Kong:

Unemployment Rate (Nov) decreased from 6.4% to 6.3%

EUROPE/EMEA:

The major Europe stock markets had a mixed day:

CAC 40 increased 1.78 points or 0.03% to 5,549.46
FTSE 100 decreased 19.85 points or -0.30% to 6,551.06
DAX 30 increased 101.27 points or 0.75% to 13,667.25

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

EURUSD increased 0.00665 or 0.55% to 1.22583
GBPUSD increased 0.01003 or 0.74% to 1.36010
USDCHF decreased 0.00168 or -0.19% to 0.88386

Some economic news from Europe today:

UK:

Car Registration (MoM) (Nov) increased from -57.0% to -19.3%

Car Registration (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -1.6% to -27.4%

BoE MPC vote cut (Dec) remain the same at 0

BoE MPC vote hike (Dec) remain the same at 0

BoE MPC vote hike (Dec) remain the same at 9

BoE QE Total (Dec) remain the same at 875B

BoE QE Total (Dec) remain the same at 0.10%

Italy:

Italian Car Registration (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 0.5% to -11.8%

Italian Car Registration (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -0.2% to -8.3%

Swiss:

Trade Balance (Nov) increased from 3.857B to 4.458B

SNB Interest Rate Decision remain the same at -0.75%

Germany:

German Car Registration (YoY) (Nov) increased from -3.6% to -3.0%

German Car Registration (YoY) (Nov) increased from 3.4% to 5.8%

Norway:

German Car Registration (MoM) (Nov) remain the same at 0.00%

France:

French Car Registration (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 1.6% to -26.3%

French Car Registration (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -9.5% to -27.0%

French Business Survey (Dec) increased from 92 to 93

Euro Zone:

Core CPI (YoY) (Nov) remain the same at 0.2%

Core CPI (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 0.1% to -0.5%

Core CPI (MoM) (Nov) remain the same at -0.3%

CPI (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 0.2% to -0.3%

CPI (MoM) (Nov) remain the same at -0.4%

CPI ex Tobacco (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 0.2% to -0.4%

CPI ex Tobacco (MoM) (Nov) remain the same at 0.4%

HICP ex Energy & Food (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 0.1% to -0.4%

US/AMERICAS:

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs this Thursday. Tesla’s 4.91% rise led the Nasdaq’s rally today, followed by Workda a (3.83%), Cognizant (3.13%), and Netease (2.92%). Lennar (7.42%) showed the most significant jump on the S&P 500, followed by Accenture (7.09%), PulteGroup (5.39%), and Digital Realty Trust (3.57%).

Trading platform Robinhood agreed to pay $65 million in civil penalty fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after being charged with misleading practices. The SEC maintains that Robinhood deceived customers by saying they operated on a “commission-free” basis. “One of Robinhood’s selling points to customers was that trading was ‘commission-free,’ but due in large part to its unusually high payment for order flow rates, Robinhood customers’ orders were executed at prices that were inferior to other brokers’ prices,” the SEC stated in an official statement. The SEC stated that altered trade prices cost customers $34.1 million. The startup company plans to go public in the near future and raised over $1 billion in 2020, bringing the platform’s valuation to $11.7 billion.

The number of Americans out of work unexpectedly rose by 885,000 week, the highest one-week filing since the week of September 5. New state restrictions and lockdowns could be to blame for the increase in jobless claims. According to the Labor Department, 20.6 million people were receiving unemployment benefits as of November 28.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an at-home coronavirus test kit that produces results in 15 minutes. The $30 test kits will likely be available over-the-counter this January. The test comes in the form of a nasal swab kit, and has been approved for all persons over the age of two. Ellume, the product manufacturer, will receive $30 million from the National Institutes of Health to ramp up production with a goal of manufacturing 100,000 kits daily by January, 250,000 kits daily by March, and one million kits daily by June.

Brazil’s Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello stated that the country has not yet approved Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for immediate use due to red tape that requires detailed approval. Pazuello said they are considering approving the vaccine as well as a liability waiver for the manufacturer. Brazil is also poised to purchase 9 million doses of Chinese-based Sinovac’s vaccine and 15 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine next month.

US Market Closings:

Dow advanced 148.83 points or 0.49% to 30,303.37
S&P 500 advanced 21.31 points or 0.58% to 3,722.48
Nasdaq rose 106.56 points or 0.84% to 12,764.75
Russell 2000 advanced 25.32 points or 1.3% to 1,978.05

Canada Market Closings:

TSX Composite advanced 85.52 points or 0.49% to 17,652.94
TSX 60 advanced 4.03 points or 0.39% to 1,050.71

Brazil Market Closing:

Bovespa advanced 543.22 points or 0.46% to 118,400.57

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

Crude Oil increased 0.37 USD/BBL or 0.77% to 48.1900
Brent increased 0.28 USD/BBL or 0.55% to 51.3600
Natural gas decreased 0.052 USD/MMBtu or -1.94% to 2.6250
Gasoline increased 0.0169 USD/GAL or 1.25% to 1.3698
Heating oil increased 0.0129 USD/GAL or 0.87% to 1.4908
Top commodity gainers: Silver (2.04%), Rubber (1.83%), Zinc (1.88%), and Cotton (2.29%)
Top commodity losers: Orange Juice (-2.25%), Soda Ash (-1.82%), Coffee (-0.79%), and Natural Gas (-1.94%)

The above data was collected around 12:05 EST on Thursday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.01%(+1bp), US 2’s 0.00%(+0.01%), US 10’s 0.94%(+2bps); US 30’s 2.00%(+0.02%), Bunds -0.56% (+1bp), France -0.32% (+1bp), Italy 0.51% (+0bp), Turkey 12.78% (-5bp), Greece 0.59% (+0bp), Portugal 0.01% (+1bp); Spain 0.03% (+0bp) and UK Gilts 0.29% (+1bp).