ASIA:
China’s official economic growth target is expected to be set above 5 percent in 2022, analysts told in an interview. China enters the local “two sessions” season, when local GDP growth targets are usually announced. Beijing and Central China’s Henan Province became the latest to start their annual meetings since Wednesday. Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region kicked off its meetings on Monday. The local “two sessions,” held prior to the national meetings scheduled for early March, are deemed as an important window to gauge the direction of China’s economic and social development planning in the coming year. Japanese investment bank Nomura forecast that China’s economy will grow by 4.3 percent in 2022 compared with India’s 8.5 percent. Economists and institutions generally expect China’s economy to grow by about 5 percent in 2022. The World Bank estimated a growth of 5.1 percent, Deutsche Bank about 5 percent, and Morgan Stanley 5.5 percent.
The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:
- NIKKEI 225 decreased 9.31 points or -0.03% to 28,478.56
- Shanghai decreased 6.54 points or -0.18% to 3,579.54
- Hang Seng increased 420.52 points or 1.82% to 23,493.38
- ASX 200 increased 95.00 points or 1.29% to 7,453.30
- Kospi increased 34.36 points or 1.18% to 2,954.89
- SENSEX increased 142.81 points or 0.24% to 59,744.65
- Nifty50 increased 66.80 points or 0.38% to 17,812.70
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD increased 0.00163 or 0.23% to 0.71792
- NZDUSD increased 0.0032 or 0.47% to 0.67742
- USDJPY decreased 0.24 or -0.21% to 115.62
- USDCNY decreased 0.01415 or -0.22% to 6.38322
Precious Metals:
- Gold increased 7.76 USD/t oz. or 0.43% to 1,796.44
- Silver increased 0.221 USD/t. oz or 1.00% to 22.373
Some economic news from last night:
Japan:
Household Spending (YoY) (Nov) decreased from -0.6% to -1.3%
Household Spending (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 3.4% to -1.2%
Overall wage income of employees (Nov) decreased from 0.2% to 0.0%
Overtime Pay (YoY) (Nov) increased from 2.30% to 2.70%
Tokyo Core CPI (YoY) (Dec) increased from 0.3% to 0.5%
Tokyo CPI (YoY) (Dec) increased from 0.5% to 0.8%
CPI Tokyo Ex Food and Energy (MoM) (Dec) increased from -0.1% to 0.0%
Foreign Bonds Buying increased from -1,587.2B to 310.0B
Foreign Investments in Japanese Stocks increased from -839.0B to 124.5B
Foreign Bonds Buying decreased from 310.0B to -416.5B
Foreign Investments in Japanese Stocks decreased from 124.5B to 17.1B
Some economic news from today:
China:
FX Reserves (USD) (Dec) increased from 3.222T to 3.250T
Hong Kong:
Foreign Reserves (USD) (Dec) decreased from 499.40B to 496.80B
India:
FX Reserves, USD decreased from 635.08B to 633.61B
EUROPE/EMEA:
British companies are planning to boost prices by 5% in the next year, a Bank of England survey showed, indicating increasing inflationary pressures across the economy. The reading, contained in the central bank’s monthly Decision Maker Panel survey of chief financial officers, was up sharply from 4.2% in November. It was the highest figure since the survey began in 2017. The findings add to pressure on policy makers led by BOE Governor Andrew Bailey to rein in consumer-price growth that the central bank expects may reach 6% this year, triple its target. The surge in inflation reflects supply-chain pressures made worse by spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
A separate survey of purchasing managers by IHS Markit showed higher prices for energy, transport and raw materials led to a sharp increase in cost burdens last month. It also showed input price growth eased from its peak in August. Markit revised up its index for services output in December to 53.6 from 53.2. The Office for National Statistics reported that labor shortages and cost pressures remained elevated in December with no sign of them easing.
Inflation in the euro region accelerated beyond already record levels, defying expectations for a slowdown and complicating the task for European Central Bank officials who insist the current spike is temporary. The euro strengthened. Consumer prices jumped 5% from a year earlier in December — faster than the previous month’s 4.9% gain and more than the 4.8% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A measure that strips out volatile components such as food and energy came in at 2.6%, matching November’s reading. Friday’s inflation data increases the pressure on the ECB after supply-chain disruptions and soaring energy costs drove price growth to its fastest since the common currency was created.
The major Europe stock markets had a mixed day:
- CAC 40 decreased 30.18 points or -0.42% to 7,219.48
- FTSE 100 increased 34.91 points or 0.47% to 7,485.28
- DAX 30 decreased 104.29 points or -0.65% to 15,947.74
The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:
- EURUSD increased 0.00636 or 0.56% to 1.13589
- GBPUSD increased 0.0052 or 0.38% to 1.35850
- USDCHF decreased 0.0313 or -0.34% to 0.91888
Some economic news from Europe today:
Swiss:
Retail Sales (YoY) (Nov) increased from 2.2% to 5.8%
Unemployment Rate n.s.a. (Dec) increased from 2.5% to 2.6%
Unemployment Rate s.a. (Dec) decreased from 2.5% to 2.4%
UK:
Halifax House Price Index (YoY) increased from 8.2% to 9.8%
Halifax House Price Index (MoM) (Dec) remain the same at 1.1%
Construction PMI (Dec) decreased from 55.5 to 54.3
Housing Equity Withdrawal (QoQ) decreased from 6.1B to -7.1B
Germany:
Gemran Current Account Balance n.s.a (Nov) increased from 17.6B to 18.9B
German Exports (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 4.2% to 1.7%
German Imports (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 5.2% to 3.3%
German Industrial Production (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 2.4% to -0.2%
German Trade Balance (Nov) decreased from 12.4B to 10.9B
Norway:
Manufacturing Production (MoM) (Nov) increased from -0.9% to 0.0%
Credit Indicator (YoY) (Nov) decreased from 5.3% to 5.1%
France:
French Consumer Spending (MoM) (Nov) increased from -0.6% to 0.8%
French Current Account (Nov) decreased from -2.50B to -3.60B
French Exports (Nov) increased from 43.3B to 44.0B
French Imports (Nov) increased from 51.0B to 53.7B
French Industrial Production (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 0.9% to -0.4%
French Reserve Assets Total (Dec) increased from 221,771.0M to 223,787.0M
French Trade Balance (Nov) decreased from -7.7B to -9.7B
Italy:
Italian Public Deficit (Q3) decreased from 7.5% to 6.2%
Spain:
Spanish Business Confidence increased from 3.8 to 5.9
Euro Zone:
Core CPI (YoY) (Nov) remain the same at 2.6%
Core CPI (MoM) (Dec) increased from 0.0% to 0.4%
CPI (MoM) (Dec) remain the same at 0.4%
CPI (YoY) (Dec) increased from 4.9% to 5.0%
Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov) increased from 0.3% to 1.0%
US/AMERICAS:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls in the US rose by 199,000 in December, well beneath analysts’ expectations of 422,000. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, however, which is a positive sign that the workforce is inching back to pre-pandemic levels. The battered leisure and hospitality sector accounted for the majority of new positions after onboarding 53,000. Among the 53,000, 42,600 were hired by restaurants while 42,600 were added by hotels. Amusement parks, casinos, and recreational firms lost 6,600 workers, albeit some seasonal employees. Professional and business services onboarded 43,000, manufacturing 26,000, and construction 22,000. Transportation and warehousing advanced by 18,700 jobs and wholesale trade added 13,7000. The only sectors to experience losses were utilities (-200), retail trade (-2,100), and, perhaps for the best, government (-12,000).
Canada’s workforce rose by 55,000 positions in December, with the unemployment rate remaining somewhat stagnant at 5.9%. Statistics Canada reported that full-time employment grew by 123,000 or 0.8% last month, with “core age” men between 24 and 54 composing 95,000 of those roles. Part-time workers declined by 68,000 (-1.9%). Similar to the US, Canada is now nearing their pre-pandemic levels of unemployment, as it once stood at 5.7% in February 2020.
US Market Closings:
- Dow declined 4.81 points or -0.01% to 35,231.66
- S&P 500 declined 19.02 points or -0.41% to 4,677.03
- Nasdaq declined 144.96 points or -0.96% to 14,935.9
- Russell 2000 declined 26.56 points or -1.2% to 2,179.81
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite advanced 12.25 points or 0.06% to 21,084.45
- TSX 60 advanced 1.07 points or 0.08% to 1,281.7
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa advanced 1,158.42 points or 1.14% to 102,719.47
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a mixed day today:
- Crude Oil decreased 0.68 USD/BBL or -0.86% to 78.7800
- Brent decreased 0.36 USD/BBL or -0.44% to 81.6300
- Natural gas increased 0.112 USD/MMBtu or 2.94% to 3.9240
- Gasoline decreased 0.0075 USD/GAL or -0.33% to 2.2968
- Heating oil increased 0.0008 USD/GAL or 0.03% to 2.4785
The above data was collected around 14:08 EST on Friday
- Top commodity gainers: Cocoa (4.17%) and Coffee (3.06%), Palladium (3.09%), Rhodium (4.29%)
- Top commodity losers: Cheese (-1.09%), Oat (-1.27%), Steel (-1.16%), and Lean Hogs (-3.86%)
The above data was collected around 14:15 EST on Friday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.14%(+2.3bp), US 2’s 0.86% (-0.010%), US 10’s 1.7637% (+3.56bps); US 30’s 2.11% (+0.026%), Bunds -0.042% (+2.6bp), France 0.282% (+2.3bp), Italy 1.334% (+6bp), Turkey 23.24% (+6bp), Greece 1.524% (+11.9bp), Portugal 0.609% (+7bp); Spain 0.669% (+3.55bp) and UK Gilts 1.176% (+1.9bp).
