Despite better than expected data from domestic China (Retail Sales 11% and Industrial Production +6.5%) it was not sufficient to support a positive close. Shanghai finished the day -0.75% as talk that Private Investment growth slowed suggesting a lack of demand for small and medium sized companies; Private Investment is the bulk of the buying […]

Volumes are always low when many markets are closed and that is what we saw in todays trading. Under those conditions the Nikkei returned a positive performance as the Yen continued Fridays heavy theme having spent much of the day in the high 111’s. This is not a huge move but a weaker currency will […]

Nervous markets again with US military positioning headlines for most of the session and that led to safety moves back into the JPY. Having broken the 111 handle early, next target was the 110 handle. Many did not expect the US trading hours to take it as far as it did (109.65 -1.1% last) levels […]

Yen weakness continues to push the Nikkei, which helped the exporters but also the inflation outlook appears more positive. Todays CPI release was came in a smidgen better than the zero forecast at 0.1%, with National at 0.4%. In Shanghai and in the Hang Seng we saw declines ahead of Janet Yellen speech later in […]

I have warned that rates will rise BECAUSE the Federal Reserve will be criticized if they fail to do so when they are faced with a stock market that is rising. However, while one by one, several Fed officials have all signaled in recent days that the Fed is ready to resume raising interest rates […]

The euphoria seen in the states followed on into Asia with the Nikkei returning almost 1% in today’s trading. The mood did not want to change from Wednesday, leading traders to think that many have finally thrown in the towel and are accepting that we are moving higher. The strange thing is the odds move […]

It was the speech that most claimed lacked substance that just did exactly what most thought it couldn’t – rally global stock markets. Yes, Japan’s Biz Cap-Ex released at 3.8% compared to the previous 1.3%; that woke markets, then Manufacturing PMI released a smidgen worse but when the JPY started to fall, everyone blamed Trump. […]

Following from the constructive message the market was hearing from the FED, the Nikkei regained the 1.05% it lost yesterday. This proved to be an impressive performance when considering Toshiba shares dropped 9% amid a potential book write-down of $6.3bn to its US nuclear unit. Hang Seng built on yesterday’s gain adding another +1.2% reaching […]

A little profit-taking in the Nikkei today ahead of the FED semi-annual address was to be expected but todays price fall was probably more than most expected. The Nikkei declined 1.15% in todays trading with more concerns over the alluded slowed down after Finance Minister (and deputy Prime Minister) Taro Aso remarked it may take […]

Another strong opening session for the week in Asia with equity markets improving from where they left-off on Friday. The news over the weekend that North Korea had tested weapons failed to scare markets as much as it did the media. Japan’s GDP was a touch under expectation but the Nikkei was pulled along with […]