ASIA:
The Japanese yen weakened to more than 130 to the dollar on Thursday for the first time since April 2002, after the Bank of Japan reinforced its commitment to low interest rates despite rising inflation. On Thursday, the bank said it would purchase 10-year Japanese government bonds at a yield of 0.25% every business day to ensure that the yield doesn’t exceed that level. It has already intervened frequently this month to preserve the cap. BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said at a news conference. “It is most important to support economic recovery by patiently continuing monetary easing.” The yen briefly weakened to 131 against the dollar, a 20-year low. The dollar was trading at about 115 yen as recently as early March. That means the yen has lost more than 10% of its value in less than two months as investors look to move their money to currencies such as the dollar that offer higher yields.
The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:
- NIKKEI 225 closed
- Shanghai closed
- Hang Seng increased 12.50 points or 0.06% to 21,101.89
- ASX 200 decreased 30.80 points or -0.42% to 7,316.20
- Kospi decreased 6.99 points or -0.26% to 2,680.46
- SENSEX closed
- Nifty50 closed
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD increased 0.00534 or 0.76% to 0.71012
- NZDUSD increased 0.00047 or 0.07% to 0.64398
- USDJPY decreased 0.029 or -0.02% to 130.118
- USDCNY decreased 0.02648 or -0.40% to 6.64811
Precious Metals:
- Gold increased 8.64 USD/t oz. or 0.46% to 1,871.41
- Silver decreased 0.009 USD/t. oz or -0.04% to 22.620
Some economic news from last night:
South Korea:
CPI (MoM) (Apr) remain the same at 0.7%
CPI (YoY) (Apr) increased from 4.1% to 4.8%
New Zealand:
Building Consents (MoM) (Mar) decreased from 12.2% to 5.8%
Some economic news from today
Hong Kong:
GDP (QoQ) (Q1) decreased from 0.0% to -2.9%
GDP (YoY) (Q1) decreased from 4.7% to -4.0%
Australia:
RBA Interest Rate Decision (May) increased from 0.10% to 0.35%
New Zealand:
GlobalDairyTrade Price Index decreased from -3.6% to -8.5%
EUROPE/EMEA:
German unemployment fell in April, Labour Office figures showed on Tuesday, though the effect of the war in Ukraine slowed a continued recovery seen since the lifting of coronavirus pandemic measures. The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out of work fell by 13,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.287 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected a decrease of 15,000. Provisional figures from the Federal Statistics Office earlier on Tuesday showed that the number of people living in Germany who had employment in March was at roughly 45.2 million, exceeding the pre-coronavirus pandemic level for the first time.
The major Europe stock markets had a green day:
- CAC 40 increased 50.57 points or 0.79% to 6,476.18
- FTSE 100 increased 16.78 points or 0.22% to 7,561.33
- DAX 30 increased 100.40 points or 0.72% to 14,039.47
The major Europe currency markets had a green day today:
- EURUSD increased 0.00196 or 0.19% to 1.05271
- GBPUSD increased 0.00069 or 0.06% to 1.25033
- USDCHF increased 0.001 or 0.10% to 0.97878
Some economic news from Europe today:
France:
French Government Budget Balance (Mar) decreased from -37.6B to -38.3B
Germany:
German Unemployment Change (Apr) increased from -18K to -13K
German Unemployment Rate (Apr) remain the same at 5.0%
German Unemployment (Apr) decreased from 2.298M to 2.287M
German Unemployment n.s.a. (Apr) decreased from 2.362M to 2.309M
UK:
Manufacturing PMI (Apr) increased from 55.2 to 55.8
Euro Zone:
PPI (MoM) (Mar) increased from 1.1% to 5.3%
PPI (YoY) (Mar) increased from 31.5% to 36.8%
Unemployment Rate (Mar) decreased from 6.9% to 6.8%
US/AMERICAS:
Pfizer cut its earnings projection for 2022. The company expects earnings per share to reach $6.25 to $6.45 by the end of the year, compared to the initial projection of $6.35 to $6.55. Despite the expected downgrade, Pfizer had a lucrative first quarter after selling over $13 billion of the antiviral medication, Paxlovid. Their first quarter revenue rose 77% to $25 billion YoY.
The Labor Department reported a record number of Americans quitting their jobs in March. Around 3% of the entire workforce (4.5 million Americans) left their jobs this March. That is up from 4.4 million in February and surpasses November’s high. The number of job openings rose to 11.5 in March as there are more available jobs than workers amid what has been called the Great Resignation.
US Market Closings:
- Dow advanced 67.29 points or 0.2% to 33,128.79
- S&P 500 advanced 20.1 points or 0.48% to 4,175.48
- Nasdaq advanced 27.74 points or 0.22% to 12,563.76
- Russell 2000 advanced 15.94 points or 0.85% to 1,898.86
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite advanced 213.06 points or 1.03% to 20,905.28
- TSX 60 advanced 12.46 points or 0.99% to 1,266.84
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa declined 110.55 points or -0.1% to 106,528.09
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a mixed day today:
- Crude Oil decreased 2.22 USD/BBL or -2.11% to 102.950
- Brent decreased 2.18 USD/BBL or -2.03% to 105.40
- Natural gas increased 0.518 USD/MMBtu or 6.93% to 7.9900
- Gasoline decreased 0.031 USD/GAL or -0.88% to 3.4791
- Heating oil decreased 0.1224 USD/GAL or -2.91% to 4.0825
The above data was collected around 13:45 EST on Tuesday
- Top commodity gainers: Coal (8.41%) and Natural Gas (6.93%), Platinum (2.90%), Oat (3.48%)
- Top commodity losers: Rice(-2.66%), Aluminum (-3.88%), Zinc (-4.80%) and Heating Oil (-2.91%)
The above data was collected around 13:53 EST on Tuesday
BONDS:
Japan 0.2250%(+0.8bp), US 2’s 2.74% (+0.013%), US 10’s 2.938% (-3.88bps); US 30’s 3.00% (-0.034%), Bunds 0.971% (+0.8bp), France 1.485% (-1.5bp), Italy 2.8840% (+2.6bp), Turkey 20.27% (+35bp), Greece 3.393% (+0.9bp), Portugal 2.088% (+1.3bp); Spain 2.056% (+3.3bp) and UK Gilts 1.9510% (+4.6bp).
