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 […]

Asia was split today with the Nikkei not managing to move out of first gear – at least during the Asia session – but saw the Yen lose its haven status. The volatile Japanese data for Machinery Orders was released better than the 3.1% expected figure at +6.7% (against a previous -5.1%) did not really […]

All core Asian indices closed higher today even as energy prices fell another 1% in todays trading. The Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai all closed +0.5% firmer on the day. Currencies were well behaved with the JPY playing around the 112 figure for the majority of the day. The dollar index (DXY) broke above the […]

We can probably count on one thing – the people from Goldman Sachs advising Trump will most likely do what they always do – assume the manipulation and “influence” is all that is needed to change the trend in the dollar. Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro has hit out at Germany and accused the country […]

Given that we saw the US markets retreat mid-session from early highs, in Asia many were concerned the full enthusiasm is yet to arrive. As equity markets took a side-step gold was the main talking point after its near $20 rally in late US trading. The flight to quality also saw the JPY retest old […]

ELIZABETH WARREN blasts Trump saying ‘Wall Street bankers and lobbyists … may be toasting each other with Champagne’ after he ordered the Department of Labor to review the rule that was to go into effect come April. Warren is really clueless. She fails to comprehend that sometimes government regulation is very bad. Indeed, I have […]

One of the main topics of conversation overnight was the fact that the Shanghai market reopened, after the week long holiday, to a surprise reverse-repo hike (10bp’s to 2.35%) which resulted in a -0.6% decline in the Shanghai Index. The CNH traded back up through the 6.82 mark but in late US trade saw core […]

Here is a board meeting of CALPERS illustrating that (1) the majority of the board is totally without any experience in financial markets and (2) they are trying to throw off the board anyone who points out they are in trouble. Pension funds on average need 8% to break even. You will hear in this discussion […]

A shocking statement was made by a United Nations official Christiana Figueres at a news conference in Brussels. Figueres admitted that the Global Warming conspiracy set by the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, of which she is the executive secretary, has a goal not of environmental activists to save the world from ecological calamity, but to destroy […]

Another weak session for the Nikkei but also the Hang Seng came under pressure given global large cap weakness. The JPY saw another reach as a safe-haven with almost another handle change down to 111. However, despite coming close we have not yet traded there today. Dealer were expressing concerns on the move Presidents Trump’s […]