After an initial opening surge in the Nikkei, briefly topping 17k, sellers appeared and drove prices lower to close the day -0.7%. The JPY was weaker throughout the morning session but had also turned stronger to balance the Nikkei swing. With the 10yr JGB having turned negative recently, this will squeeze banks and foreigners in […]

Janet Yellen signaled that the Fed is grappling with the problem I have been warning about: the dollar has become the de facto currency and the Fed is indeed becoming the world’s central bank. Yellen has admitted that everyone is lobbying the Fed to surrender its domestic policy objectives for international ones. This is precisely […]

The Nikkei was the bright spot in Asian equity markets today closing up 0.8% whilst the JPY decline would have cost 0.3% of that gain. It was far better than the declines we saw in mainland China which closed -1.7%. Yuan gained small ground today and was last seen 6.5212. Given the majority of the […]

With both Asia and European markets were in pretty much a waiting station ahead of the FED, so it is probably worth us heading straight to where the action started! Even the events of the UK Budget were almost removed with talks of,  “It could all change come June 23rd anyway” so why get too hot under the […]

We saw healthy performances across all Asian Indices amongst the G20 headlines. There is much talk about additional fiscal stimulus coming from China whilst Germany takes the opposite view (expressed by Wolfgang Schaeuble) stating that easy monetary policy “risks serious side effects.” Core indices closed higher on the day (Nikkei +0.3% and Shanghai +1%) but […]

A very welcome quiet Friday after another volatile week for Asian markets but at least this one has been positive for the Nikkei. Closing down today (-1.3%) as dealers continue to question the BOJ’s drastic monetary policy (despite rumors of agree officials attempting to silence the media) but the Nikkei has closed up almost 7% […]

Today’s rally in the Nikkei must have been a huge breath of fresh air for the BOJ (Bank of Japan). After opening 2% firmer the market went from strength to strength with good volume it eventually closed +7.1% on the day. Banks regained some of their losses from last week with SMFG, Mitsui, Mitsubishi UFJ […]

Japan opened weaker (mostly following the poor close on Wall Street) but was also influenced by the poor Retail Sales (Est -0.1% v’s actual -1.1%). However, after the initial shock prices recovered on rumors of additional stimulus expected to be announced tomorrow (following its two day policy meeting) but even that could not stop the Index […]

All core Asian Indices suffered as concerns surrounding the oil price continued to drive market sentiment. Late rumours that Saudi’s Aramco were in talks with Hong Kong’s Sinopec of a possible refinery investment within China. This news certainly helped their share (Sinopec +1.8%) but was too late to aid the broader markets or the price of […]

We will post a 35-minute video update to the World Economic forum (see “Helpful Video” thread) that will cover key markets. We have warned that January looked like a correction all around. Wall Street rallied after a hesitant start on Thursday as oil prices led the way after surging with a big gain. ECB President […]