ASIA:
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices declined this week, tracking European gas prices which fell due to stable Russian gas flows and LNG supply. The average LNG price for April delivery into north-east Asia was estimated at $38.00 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), down $2.50, or 6.2% from the previous week, industry sources said. Another factor that would support a price rise would be Europe’s attempts to fill its gas storage during the summer gas season from April through October. Price agency S&P Global Commodity Insights’ Japan-Korea-Marker (JKM), which is widely used as a spot benchmark in the region, jumped to a record $84.762/mmBtu on Monday on as buyers scour global markets for LNG cargoes to replace Russian gas and LNG, but declined later into the week.
India has tightened scrutiny of IPO-bound firms by questioning how key internal business metrics are used to arrive at valuations, unsettling bankers and companies which fear delays in listing plans, Reuters reported. India’s push comes after the flop listing of SoftBank-backed payments firm Paytm’s $2.5 billion IPO in November which sparked criticism of lax oversight of how loss-making companies price issues at what some say are lofty valuations.
The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:
- NIKKEI 225 decreased 527.62 points or -2.05% to 25,162.78
- Shanghai increased 13.65 points or 0.41% to 3,309.75
- Hang Seng decreased 336.47 points or -1.61% to 20.553.79
- ASX 200 decreased 67.20 points or -0.94% to 7,063.60
- Kospi decreased 19.04 points or -0.71% to 2,661.28
- SENSEX increased 85.91 points or 0.15% to 55,550.30
- Nifty50 increased 35.55 points or 0.21% to 16,630.45
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD decreased 0.00540 or -0.74% to 0.73069
- NZDUSD decreased 0.00530 or -0.76% to 0.68206
- USDJPY increased 0.945 or 0.81% to 117.113
- USDCNY increased 0.02570 or 0.41% to 6.35363
Precious Metals:
- Gold decreased 11.15USD/t oz. or -0.56% to 1,984.71
- Silver increased 0.070 USD/t. oz or 0.27% to 25.952
Some economic news from last night:
China：
China Thomson Reuters IPSOS PCSI (Mar) decreased from 72.04 to 69.86
Japan:
Household Spending (YoY) (Jan) increased from -0.2% to 6.9%
Household Spending (MoM) (Jan) decreased from 0.2% to -1.2%
BSI Large Manufacturing Conditions (Q1) decreased from 7.9 to -7.6
Thomson Reuters IPSOS PCSI (Mar) increased from 39.33 to 39.78
South Korea:
Current Account (Jan) decreased from 6.06B to 1.81B
New Zealand:
Business NZ PMI (Feb) increased from 52.3 to 53.6
FPI (MoM) (Feb) decreased from 2.7% to -0.1%
Some economic news from today
China:
Chinese Total Social Financing (Feb) decreased from 6,170.0B to 1,190.0B
M2 Money Stock (YoY) (Feb) decreased from 9.8% to 9.2%
New Loans (Feb) decreased from 3,980.0B to 1,230.0B
Outstanding Loan Growth (YoY) (Feb) decreased from 11.5% to 11.4%
India:
Bank Loan Growth remain the same at 7.9%
Deposit Growth decreased from 9.1% to 8.6%
FX Reserves, USD increased from 631.53B to 631.92B
Cumulative Industrial Production (Jan) decreased from 15.20% to 13.70%
Industrial Production (YoY) (Jan) increased from 0.4% to 1.3%
Manufacturing Output (MoM) (Jan) increased from -0.1% to 1.1%
EUROPE/EMEA:
The European Central Bank is working on a financial facility to let millions of Ukrainian refugees convert their savings into hard currency, to help them make a new start in Europe as they flee war at home, Reuters reported.
The European Commission earlier this week revealed a plan to wean its economies off Russian gas, focusing on replacing Russian gas with alternative supplies of 60 billion cubic meters (bcm), most of which would come from LNG imports. “The plans strongly lean on the rise of LNG imports. However, there won’t be enough LNG available to fill the gap even in the very unlikely scenario that all available LNG were to be shipped towards Europe,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro. The sources said that EU leaders were also pressuring the bank to act and had asked the ECB to speed up its efforts. Several ECB policymakers, primarily from the bloc’s east, asked ECB chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday for a joint solution and the bank is now scrambling to design a facility.
The major Europe stock markets had a green day:
- CAC 40 increased 53.05 points or 0.85% to 6,260.25
- FTSE 100 increased 56.55 points or 0.80% to 7,155.64
- DAX 30 increased 186.01 points or 1.38% to 13,628.11
The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:
- EURUSD decreased 0.00640 or -0.58% to 1.09366
- GBPUSD decreased 0.00350 or -0.27% to 1.30622
- USDCHF increased 0.00300 or 0.32% to 0.93315
Some economic news from Europe today:
UK:
Inflation Expectations increased from 3.2% to 4.3%
U.K. Construction Output (YoY) (Jan) increased from 7.4% to 9.9%
Construction Output (MoM) (Jan) decreased from 2.0% to 1.1%
GDP (MoM) increased from -0.2% to 0.8%
GDP (YoY) increased from 6.0% to 10.0%
Index of Services decreased from 1.2% to 1.0%
Industrial Production (YoY) (Jan) increased from 0.4% to 2.3%
Industrial Production (MoM) (Jan) increased from 0.3% to 0.7%
Manufacturing Production (MoM) (Jan) increased from 0.2% to 0.8%
Manufacturing Production (YoY) (Jan) increased from 1.3% to 3.6%
Monthly GDP 3M/3M Change increased from 1.0% to 1.1%
Trade Balance (Jan) decreased from -12.35B to -26.50B
Trade Balance Non-EU (Jan) decreased from -7.88B to -13.65B
Germany:
German CPI (MoM) (Feb) increased from 0.4% to 0.9%
German CPI (YoY) (Feb) increased from 4.9% to 5.1%
German HICP (YoY) (Feb) increased from 5.1% to 5.5%
German HICP (MoM) (Feb) remain the same at 0.9%
Spain:
Spanish CPI (MoM) (Feb) increased from -0.4% to 0.8%
Spanish CPI (YoY) (Feb) increased from 6.1% to 7.6%
Spanish HICP (MoM) (Feb) increased from -0.8% to 0.8%
Spanish HICP (YoY) (Feb) increased from 6.2% to 7.6%
Spanish Consumer Confidence increased from 89.3 to 89.8
US/AMERICAS:
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that Americans should expect another year of “very uncomfortably high inflation,” after February’s disastrous annual 7.9% increase showed that inflation was nowhere near transitory. Yellen said she believes the war in Ukraine is exacerbating inflation. “We’re likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very uncomfortably high,” she stated. Weeks ago, Yellen spoke optimistically about inflation becoming moderate toward the end of the current fiscal year, but her tone has drastically changed given the current events.
US Market Closings:
- Dow declined 229.88 points or -0.69% to 32,944.19
- S&P 500 declined 55.21 points or -1.3% to 4,204.31
- Nasdaq declined 286.15 points or -2.18% to 12,843.81
- Russell 2000 declined 32 points or -1.59% to 1,979.67
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite declined 119.87 points or -0.56% to 21,461.83
- TSX 60 declined 6.21 points or -0.48% to 1,299.6
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa declined 1,950.06 points or -1.72% to 111,713.07
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a green day today:
- Crude Oil increased 3.15 USD/BBL or 2.97% to 109.1700
- Brent increased 2.59 USD/BBL or 2.37% to 111.9200
- Natural gas increased 0.13 USD/MMBtu or 2.81% to 4.7610
- Gasoline increased 0.1326 USD/GAL or 4.20% to 3.2893
- Heating oil increased 0.1426 USD/GAL or 4.33% to 3.4388
The above data was collected around 12:09 EST on Friday
- Top commodity gainers: Heating Oil (4.33%) and Gasoline (4.20%), Wheat(3.37%), Cotton (3.47%)
- Top commodity losers: Oat (-8.05%), Palladium(-4.43%), Palm Oil(-3.61%) and Coal(-3.68%)
The above data was collected around 12:22 EST on Friday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.1860%(-0.3bp), US 2’s 1.74% (+0.040%), US 10’s 1.9794% (-1.4bps); US 30’s 2.34% (-0.030%), Bunds 0.242% (-2.8bp), France 0.723% (-2.5bp), Italy 1.8620% (-4.6bp), Turkey 24.62% (+11bp), Greece 2.570% (+3.5bp), Portugal 1.116% (-3bp); Spain 1.257% (-1.7bp) and UK Gilts 1.488% (-3.6bp).
