ASIA:
India has witnessed the sharpest rise among the Asian economies, with a six-position jump from 43rd to 37th rank on the annual World Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development, largely due to gains in economic performance.
Japan’s Nikkei index fell for a third day on Tuesday amid risks to growth from aggressive U.S. monetary tightening and strict COVID-19 curbs in China but ended off its lows as bargain hunting emerged and U.S. stock futures pointed to a rebound. The Nikkei closed 1.32% lower at 26,629.86, but after earlier sinking as much as 2.19%, the lowest since May 19.
The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:
- NIKKEI 225 increased 105.04 points or 0.40% to 26,431.20
- Shanghai decreased 20.02 points or -0.61% to 3,285.38
- Hang Seng decreased 462.78 points or -2.17% to 20,845.43
- ASX 200 decreased 9.90 points or -0.15% to 6,591.10
- Kospi increased 4.03 points or 0.16% to 2,451.41
- SENSEX decreased 1,045.60 points or -1.99% to 51,495.79
- Nifty50 decreased 331.55 points or -2.11% to 15,360.60
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD increased 0.00185 or 0.26% to 0.70254
- NZDUSD increased 0.00731 or 1.16% to 0.63571
- USDJPY decreased 2.231 or -1.66% to 131.929
- USDCNY increased 0.0222 or 0.33% to 6.68960
Precious Metals:
l Gold increased 14.51 USD/t oz. or 0.79% to 1,847.89
l Silver increased 0.197 USD/t. oz or 0.91% to 21.850
Some economic news from last night:
China:
House Prices (YoY) (May) decreased from 0.7% to -0.1%
Japan:
Adjusted Trade Balance decreased from -1.58T to -1.93T
Exports (YoY) (May) increased from 12.5% to 15.8%
Trade Balance (May) decreased from -842.8B to -2,384.7B
Australia:
Employment Change (May) increased from 4.5K to 60.6K
Full Employment Change (May) decreased from 93.3K to 69.4K
Unemployment Rate (May) remain the same at 3.9%
New Zealand:
GDP (QoQ) (Q1) decreased from 3.0% to -0.2%
GDP (YoY) (Q1) decreased from 3.1% to 1.2%
No economic news from today:
EUROPE/EMEA:
The UK economy shrank in April at the sharpest pace in more than a year as the government wound down Covid testing, highlighting risks that a broader contraction is underway. Gross domestic product fell 0.3% from March when output declined 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics said Monday. A gain of 0.1% was predicted by economists.
In IMD’s World Competitiveness Index, Denmark has moved to the top of the 63-nation list from the third position last year, while Switzerland slipped from the top ranking to the second position and Singapore regained the third spot from fifth, a global study showed on Wednesday. Others in the top 10 include Sweden at the fourth position, followed by Hong Kong SAR (5th), the Netherlands (6th), Taiwan (7th), Finland (8th), Norway (9th) and the USA (10th). Meanwhile, the top-performing Asian economies are Singapore (3rd), Hong Kong (5th), Taiwan (7th), China (17th) and Australia (19th).
The major Europe stock markets had a negative day:
n CAC 40 decreased 143.89 points or -2.39% to 5,886.24
n FTSE 100 decreased 228.43 points or -3.14% to 7,044.98
l DAX 30 decreased 446.80 points or -3.31% to 13,038.49
The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:
- EURUSD increased 0.01037 or 0.99% to 1.05613
- GBPUSD increased 0.02237 or 1.84% to 1.23924
- USDCHF decreased 0.0295 or -2.97% to 0.96460
Some economic news from Europe today:
UK:
Car Registration (YoY) (May) decreased from -15.8% to -20.6%
Car Registration (MoM) (May) increased from -51.1% to 4.4%
BoE Interest Rate Decision (Jun) increased from 1.00% to 1.25%
Italy:
Italian Car Registration (YoY) (May) increased from -33.0% to -15.1%
Italian Car Registration (MoM) (May) increased from -18.5% to 24.6%
Italian CPI (YoY) (May) increased from 6.0% to 6.8%
Italian CPI (MoM) (May) increased from -0.1% to 0.8%
Italian CPI Ex Tobacco (MoM) (May) increased from 5.8% to 6.8%
Italian HICP (MoM) (May) increased from 0.4% to 0.9%
Italian HICP (YoY) (May) increased from 6.3% to 7.3%
Germany:
German Car Registration (MoM) (May) increased from -25.3% to 14.9%
German Car Registration (YoY) (May) increased from -21.5% to -10.2%
France:
French Car Registration (YoY) (May) increased from -22.6% to -10.1%
French Car Registration (MoM) (May) increased from -26.1% to 16.6%
Swiss:
SNB Interest Rate Decision (Q2) increased from -0.75% to -0.25%
Spain:
Spanish Trade Balance decreased from -4.60B to -6.40B
Euro Zone:
Wages in euro zone (YoY) (Q1) increased from 1.50% to 2.70%
Labor Cost Index (YoY) (Q1) increased from 1.90% to 3.20%
US/AMERICAS:
Wall Street closed in the red today as the markets are bracing for a recession.
All eyes were on the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated rate announcement yesterday – the benchmark will rise by 75 basis points. This is the largest rate increase from the Fed since 1994 as drastic measures are necessary to combat runaway inflation. The central bank cut its growth forecast for 2022 to 1.7% after initially predicting a 2.8% rise in March. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) expects rates to increase throughout the year.
Jerome Powell addressed the public to discuss the FOMC’s decision. The overarching message unsurprisingly was that the Fed is mainly focused on bringing down inflation and understands that most people have not experienced these 40-year high prices. The labor market extremely tight, and admittedly rising rates could cause unemployment to rise. Short-term inflation is expected to remain high, but will come down in the next couple of years. Powell said the central bank is absolutely committed to keeping inflation anchored at 2%. The Fed is seeking a series of declining monthly inflation readings, but expects that to take some time. Powell said rates should rise by 50 to 75 basis points at the next meeting before eventually reaching the 3.5% to 4% level.
US Market Closings:
- Dow declined 741.46 points or -2.42% to 29,927.07
- S&P 500 declined 123.33 points or -3.25% to 3,666.77
- Nasdaq declined 453.06 points or -4.08% to 10,646.1
- Russell 2000 declined 81.3 points or -4.7% to 1,649.84
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite declined 607.5 points or -3.1% to 19,004.06
- TSX 60 declined 35.32 points or -2.98% to 1,151.43
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa advanced 743.57 points or 0.73% to 102,806.82
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a mixed day today:
l Crude Oil increased 1.07 USD/BBL or 0.93% to 116.380
l Brent increased 0.44 USD/BBL or 0.37% to 118.95
l Natural gas increased 0.179 USD/MMBtu or 2.41% to 7.5990
l Gasoline decreased 0.0152 USD/GAL or -0.39% to 3.8790
l Heating oil decreased 0.0383 USD/GAL or -0.84% to 4.5087
The above data was collected around 12:51 EST on Thursday
l Top commodity gainers: Coal (2.24%), Wheat (2.64%), Corn (1.61%) and Natural Gas (2.41%)
l Top commodity losers: Palm Oil (-3.25%), Aluminum (-2.99%), Feeder Cattle (-1.34%) and Copper (-1.42%)
The above data was collected around 13:04 EST on Thursday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.251%(-0.1bp), US 2’s 3.16% (-0.045%), US 10’s 3.3258% (+3.43bps); US 30’s 3.39% (+0.053%), Bunds 1.724% (+7.2bp), France 2.2810% (+5.6bp), Italy 3.892% (-2.6bp), Turkey 18.77% (-21bp), Greece 4.288% (+6bp), Portugal 2.869% (+1.1bp); Spain 2.913% (+3.1bp) and UK Gilts 2.5230% (+5.4bp).
