Steve Bannon has been fired  from the Trump team, and many are saying good riddance. It was Bannon who has been the  architect  of the most confrontational approach with Congress and has really been clashing behind the curtain. Bannon said in the interview that the main front was China: “We are in a trade war with China” […]

  A healthy close for Asia in todays trading after the uncertainty seen from a mixed US session. The large cap DOW recovery helped but it was the broader S+P and NASDAQ that contributed most for Asia’s impetus. The Nikkei only marginally closed in positive territory but it was the fact that it closed above […]

Merkel chaired the G20 summit and she completely and utterly failed to lead G20 to a successful conclusion. Well of course, Merkel lost control of the streets of Hamburg, which looked more like a civil war challenging her authority. However, Merkel thought she could score a major diplomatic triumph by getting everyone together to gang-up […]

As many expected the BOJ kept rates unchanged as they continue to encourage a move away from bonds and into equities. Still the policy approach continues as slow but steady. This caused the JPY to trade above the 111 level even as the BOJ talks of 2% inflation (currently 0.5%). Hang Seng and Shanghai saw […]

China’s Industrial Data release marginally above expectation but Investments let them down and tended to quell afternoon anticipation and we closed only small positive. It may also have been the weakness of other core markets that also had an impact as both Hang Seng and ASX closed over 1.2% down the pair. It was energy yet […]

The big talking point in Asia was GBP and the early indications that results were leading to a hung-parliament. Even before Europe had opened sterling was around 1.75% lower on the day. However, Asian markets were mixed with the largest mover being KOPSI (+0.75%). China data (CPI) released in line at 1.5% for May, whilst […]

Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada After Trump pulled out of the Climate Accord that would not let anyone speak at the Paris Conference who disagreed with their research, now according to Reuters, the conservative Berlin circle within the CDU is also calling for a softening of the German climate policy. In a statement, the group demanded an […]

This coming week is what we would call in horse racing a trifecta with former FBI director James Comey’s testimony, the U.K. election, and the ECB monetary-policy meeting. Then our capital flow models seem to be picking up European buying of both US shares and bonds taking advantage of a rally in the Euro. The […]

Asian markets performed on the back of a strong US session which in turn was helped by the oil price rally. Having heard that Russia and Saudi had planned production cuts that could run into Q1 2018 we saw renewed confidence as investors moved away from the USD and into Euro, GBP and JPY. The […]

“The mood seemed anxious” – this was one comment we heard today as prices drifted in Asian light volume. The FED had already put a hawkish tone into the markets following their meeting but then commodity prices aren’t really helping matters either. The ASX has felt the weight of BHP and Rio price action recently […]