ASIA:
China is aiming to eliminate the Covid-19 outbreak before Lunar New Year and the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month. Around 20 million people have been sent to ‘quarantine centres’ in various cities. People contracting the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in China are forcefully confined to cramped metal boxes, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday. Many of these include pregnant women and children, the report further said. The Mail report was based on videos posted on social media, which it said have been widely circulated. These videos talk about the situation in Xi’an, Anyang and Yuzhou, where people have been quarantined after a few cases of Omicron were reported.
India’s fuel consumption in December 2021 scaled a nine-month peak, government data showed on Tuesday, although a fresh coronavirus wave may slow the gradual recovery of demand in the world’s third biggest oil consumer. Fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 18.43 million tonnes, up 7.6 percent from November and 0.4 percent from a year before, data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed. Consumption of diesel, accounting for about 40 per cent of India’s refined fuel sales, grew 12.2 per cent month-on-month to 7.31 million tonnes, their highest since December 2019, and 1.6 per cent from the same period last year. Sales of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), declined nearly 1.9 percent to 2.48 million tonnes year-on-year, while naphtha sales fell 2.1 per cent to 1.19 million tonnes. Bitumen sales fell 18.8 per cent, while fuel oil use rose 2.5 percent in December.
The major Asian stock markets had a green day today:
- NIKKEI 225 increased 543.18 points or 1.92% to 28,765.66
- Shanghai increased 29.99 points or 0.84% to 3,597.43
- Hang Seng increased 663.11 points or 2.79% to 24,402.17
- ASX 200 increased 48.80 points or 0.66% to 7,438.90
- Kospi increased 45.10 points or 1.54% to 2,972.48
- SENSEX increased 533.15 points or 0.88% to 61,150.04
- Nifty50 increased 156.60 points or 0.87% to 18,212.35
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD increased 0.00579 or 0.80% to 0.72667
- NZDUSD increased 0.00634 or 0.93% to 0.68471
- USDJPY decreased 0.62 or -0.53% to 114.74
- USDCNY decreased 0.01511 or -0.24% to 6.36111
Precious Metals:
- Gold increased 1.50 USD/t oz. or 0.08% to 1,822.74
- Silver increased 0.279 USD/t. oz or 1.22% to 23.069
Some economic news from last night:
China:
CPI (MoM) (Dec) decreased from 0.4% to -0.3%
CPI (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 2.3% to 1.5%
PPI (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 12.9% to 10.3%
Japan:
Reuters Tankan Index (Jan) decreased from 22 to 17
Adjusted Current Account increased from 1.03T to 1.37T
Bank Lending (YoY) (Dec) remain the same at 0.6%
Current Account n.s.a. (Nov) decreased from 1.180T to 0.897T
South Korea:
Unemployment Rate (Dec) increased from 3.1% to 3.8%
M2 Money supply (Nov) decreased from 10.1% to 9.8%
New Zealand:
ANZ Commodity Price Index (MoM) decreased from 2.8% to -0.2%
Some economic news from today
China:
M2 Money Stock (YoY) (Dec) increased from 8.5% to 9.0%
New Loans (Dec) decreased from 1,270.0B to 1,130.0B
Outstanding Loan Growth (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 11.7% to 11.6%
Chinese Total Social Financing (Dec) decreased from 2,610.0B to 2,370.0B
Japan:
Economy Watchers Current Index (Dec) increased from 56.3 to 56.4
India:
CPI (YoY) (Dec) increased from 4.91% to 5.59%
Cumulative Industrial Production (Nov) decreased from 20.00% to 17.40%
Industrial Production (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 3.2% to 1.4%
Manufacturing Output (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 2.0% to 0.9%
M3 Money Supply decreased from 9.3% to 0.0%
EUROPE/EMEA:
Banks in Britain should be “ambitious” in properly quantifying risks from climate change or face intervention by regulators if they fall short, the Bank of England (BoE) said on Wednesday. Banks should also pay particular attention to how they incorporate climate-related risks into business strategies, decision-making and risk-taking, the BoE said in a letter to bank CEOs about its supervisory priorities for the coming year. The BoE said most banks were focused on the business opportunities presented by climate change even though it also presents an increasing business risk that is foreseeable and requires action now. The BoE made similar requests on climate change to insurers in a separate letter, adding they could conduct further research on the potential impact of litigation risk related to climate change, and on the impact of physical risks on assets and liabilities.
The Bank of England’s (BoE) Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) wants to access more of the data from the top three companies that dominate cloud computing — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — as more financial services companies transfer their data to third-party services, Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday. The move comes amid increases in service outages and hacks as more companies worldwide transfer data and IT services to third-party big tech companies. The three dominant firms have all signed contracts with British banks and concerns are growing over how a hack could derail the financial system. Amazon Web Services signed with Barclays and HSBC; Lloyds Banking Group contracted with both Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. The move also follows a December Amazon Web Services outage that crippled a wide network of companies, including the robot vacuum maker Roomba and dating app Tinder. That service outage prompted regulators worldwide to turn their attention the cloud, an executive at a large US bank with UK operations told FT.
The major Europe stock markets had a green day:
- CAC 40 increased 53.81 points or 0.75% to 7,237.19
- FTSE 100 increased 60.35 points or 0.81% to 7,551.72
- DAX 30 increased 68.51 points or 0.43% to 16.010.32
The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:
- EURUSD increased 0.00628 or 0.55% to 1.14299
- GBPUSD increased 0.00715 or 0.52% to 1.36990
- USDCHF decreased 0.00991 or -1.07% to 0.91368
Some economic news from Europe today:
Germany:
German WPI (MoM) (Dec) decreased from 1.3% to 0.2%
German WPI (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 16.6% to 16.1%
Euro Zone:
Industrial Production (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 0.2% to -1.5%
Industrial Production (MoM) (Nov) increased from -1.3% to 2.3%
US/AMERICAS:
Inflation has soared at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years after rising by 7% this December. The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that this was the fastest increase since June 1982. Core CPI rose 5.5% year-over-year and 0.6% from November. This marks the most significant annual growth in core inflation since 1991.
Senator Mitch McConnell is threatening to shut down the Senate if the Democrats eliminate the 60-vote filibuster rule. “A post-nuclear Senate would not be more efficient or more productive. I personally guarantee it,” McConnell also said. “Do my colleagues understand how many times per day the Senate needs and gets unanimous consent for basic housekeeping? Do they understand how many things could require roll call votes? How often the minority could demand lengthy debate?”
US Market Closings:
- Dow advanced 38.3 points or 0.11% to 36,290.32
- S&P 500 advanced 13.28 points or 0.28% to 4,726.35
- Nasdaq advanced 34.94 points or 0.23% to 15,188.39
- Russell 2000 declined 17.95 points or -0.82% to 2,176.06
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite advanced 120.19 points or 0.56% to 21,395
- TSX 60 advanced 7.17 points or 0.55% to 1,300.3
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa advanced 1,906.68 points or 1.84% to 105,685.66
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a green day today:
- Crude Oil increased 1.38 USD/BBL or 1.69% to 82.8800
- Brent increased 1.08 USD/BBL or 1.29% to 85.0000
- Natural gas increased 0.475 USD/MMBtu or 11.18% to 4.7240
- Gasoline increased 0.0342 USD/GAL or 1.45% to 2.3955
- Heating oil increased 0.0295 USD/GAL or 1.15% to 2.6001
The above data was collected around 12:15 EST on Wednesday
- Top commodity gainers: Natural Gas (11.18%) and Coal (4.01%), Copper (3.24%), Lithium (2.68%)
- Top commodity losers: Wheat (-1.59%), Cocoa (-0.97%), Palladium (-0.85%), and Rhodium (-3.43%)
The above data was collected around 12:25 EST on Wednesday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.135%(-1.4bp), US 2’s 0.9008% (+0.01%), US 10’s 1.7181% (-2.82bps); US 30’s 2.0607% (-0.02%), Bunds -0.06% (-2.8bp), France 0.269% (-2.9bp), Italy 1.336% (-4.1bp), Turkey 23.39% (-6bp), Greece 1.542% (-4.5bp), Portugal 0.577% (-3bp); Spain 0.643% (-2.3bp) and UK Gilts 1.133% (-3.7bp).
