ASIA:
China is targeting a non-hydro energy storage installed capacity of 30GW by 2025 and grew its battery production output for energy storage by 146% last year, state media has said. The country is aiming for 50% electricity generation from renewable power by 2025, up from 42% currently.
Also the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) reportedly plans to increase its capacity of battery storage to 100GW in 2030 from 3GW today, and do the same for pumped hydro storage from 26GW today.
The major Asian stock markets had a negative day today:
• NIKKEI 225 decreased 591.80 points or -2.23% to 25,985.47
• Shanghai decreased 33.46 points or -0.96% to 3,447.65
• Hang Seng decreased 562.05 points or -2.50% to 21.905.29
• ASX 200 decreased 40.60 points or -0.57% to 7,110.80
• Kospi decreased 33.65 points or -1.22% to 2,713.43
• SENSEX decreased 768.87 points or -1.40% to 54,333.81
• Nifty50 decreased 252.70 points or -1.53% to 16,245.35
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
• AUDUSD increased 0.00229 or 0.31% to 0.73592
• NZDUSD increased 0.00461 or 0.68% to 0.68444
• USDJPY decreased 0.805 or -0.70% to 114.679
• USDCNY increased 0.00404 or 0.06% to 6.32620
Precious Metals:
• Gold increased 28.55 USD/t oz. or 1.48% to 1,963.76
• Silver increased 0.406 USD/t. oz or 1.61% to 25.566
Some economic news from last night:
Japan:
Jobs/applications ratio (Jan) increased from 1.17 to 1.20
Unemployment Rate (Jan) increased from 2.7% to 2.8%
South Korea:
FX Reserves – USD (Feb) increased from 461.53B to 461.77B
CPI (YoY) (Feb) increased from 3.6% to 3.7%
CPI (MoM) (Feb) remain the same at 0.6%
Australia:
Retail Sales (MoM) increased from -4.4% to 1.8%
Some economic news from today
India:
Nikkei Services PMI (Feb) increased from 51.5 to 51.8
FX Reserves, USD increased from 630.19B to 631.53B
Hong Kong:
Retail Sales (YoY) (Jan) decreased from 6.2% to 4.1%
Singapore:
Retail Sales (MoM) (Jan) decreased from 1.3% to -2.5%
Retail Sales (YoY) (Jan) increased from 6.7% to 11.8%
EUROPE/EMEA:
Britain plans to amend legislation so it can move faster with economic sanctions against oligarchs and businesses associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. The UK government has faced criticism that it has taken too long to target people with links to Putin. The first set of amendments to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill will give Britain new powers to more rapidly sanction those who have already been sanctioned by the European Union, the United States or Canada.
The major Europe stock markets had a negative day:
• CAC 40 decreased 316.71 points or -4.97% to 6,061.66
• FTSE 100 decreased 251.71 points or -3.48% to 6,987.14
• DAX 30 decreased 603.86 points or -4.41% to 13,094.54
The major Europe currency markets had a negative day today:
• EURUSD decreased 0.01506 or -1.36% to 1.09153
• GBPUSD decreased 0.01379 or -1.03% to 1.32100
• USDCHF decreased 0.00100 or -0.11% to 0.91803
Some economic news from Europe today:
Norway:
House Price Index (YoY) (Feb) decreased from 6.80% to 6.30%
Germany:
German Exports (MoM) (Jan) decreased from 1.2% to -2.8%
German Imports (MoM) (Jan) decreased from 4.0% to -4.2%
German Trade Balance (Jan) increased from 8.1B to 9.4B
IHS Markit Construction PMI (Feb) increased from 54.4 to 54.9
France:
French Industrial Production (MoM) (Jan) increased from -0.1% to 1.6%
Italy:
Italian GDP (YoY) (Q4) increased from 3.9% to 6.2%
Italian GDP (QoQ) (Q4) decreased from 2.6% to 0.6%
UK:
Construction PMI (Feb) increased from 56.3 to 59.1
Euro Zone:
Retail Sales (YoY) (Jan) increased from 2.1% to 7.8%
Retail Sales (MoM) (Jan) increased from -2.7% to 0.2%
US/AMERICAS:
The US job numbers are in for February – the new unemployment rate is now 3.8%. The Labor Department reported that February brought the largest gain in since July 2021 when many covid restrictions were lifted. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 678,000 for the month, compared to estimated of 440,000.
US Market Closings:
- Dow declined 179.86 points or -0.53% to 33,614.8
- S&P 500 declined 34.62 points or -0.79% to 4,328.87
- Nasdaq declined 224.5 points or -1.66% to 13,313.44
- Russell 2000 declined 31.51 points or -1.55% to 2,000.9
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite advanced 152.02 points or 0.72% to 21,402.43
- TSX 60 advanced 11.1 points or 0.86% to 1,298.49
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa declined 691.77 points or -0.6% to 114,473.78
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a green day today:
• Crude Oil increased 3.23 USD/BBL or 3.00% to 110.9000
• Brent increased 3.25 USD/BBL or 2.94% to 113.7100
• Natural gas increased 0.144 USD/MMBtu or 3.05% to 4.8660
• Gasoline increased 0.1260 USD/GAL or 3.84% to 3.4104
• Heating oil increased 0.1816 USD/GAL or 5.18% to 3.6850
The above data was collected around 12:23 EST on Friday
• Top commodity gainers: Heating Oil (5.18%) and Palladium (5.60%), Aluminum (5.21%), Coal (12.16%)
• Top commodity losers: Soybeans (-2.61%), Palm Oil (-7.80%), Rubber(-2.45%) and Oat(-9.71%)
The above data was collected around 12:31 EST on Friday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.1400%(-2.9bp), US 2’s 1.46% (-0.062%), US 10’s 1.7035% (-13.7bps); US 30’s 2.13% (-0.096%), Bunds -0.101% (-12.3bp), France 0.416% (-7.9bp), Italy 1.525% (-6.2bp), Turkey 23.27% (+33bp), Greece 2.3690% (-1.3bp), Portugal 0.817% (-5.1bp); Spain 0.953% (-5.9bp) and UK Gilts 1.202% (-9.9bp).
