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 […]

Core Asian indices had a relatively good session today with small gains seen across the board. Currencies had been a little stretched yesterday so with a reset today saw exporters climbing from yesterdays lows. The yen is off its 112.50 highs and is currently trading mid 113’s which is also lifting Nikkei futures off it […]

This week will all be about the Federal Reserve and the outlook for rates into next. The strip is pricing in additional moves already but it is the long end that is having a worrying impact on many dealers. Obviously, the recent curve movement is music for the (US) banks and insurance companies but will […]

Today, any information ahead of something like a rate hike is seen as insider trading. But back during the 1970s going into 1981, things were different. The banks were not big proprietary traders. I would routinely get a call that the Fed would raise rates in 15 minutes. It was not that someone was trying […]

Trump is keeping his word so far. He has admitted that he was part of the problem paying lobbyists to get preferential treatment. As they say, if you want to catch a thief, you hire a thief. In this case, Trump has really been on the other side and admitted he even paid Hillary to […]

We hardly saw any excitement overnight other than the fact that the BOJ bought some 10yr JGB’s to keep yield around zero. This obviously has a detrimental affect on the currency and in late trading we see JPY trading close to 110. As a consequence of the weaker currency financial stocks traded heavy whilst the […]

Again, we saw good performance from the Nikkei but with the currency attempting the 110 handle having a neutral ling affect. The index closed up over 1% on the day and was helped by the renewed OPEC rumour of potential output cuts. Other Asian exchanges were equally better bid but could not sustain their performance […]

What appeared to be an uncertain start turned into smiles and hugs all around. The Nikkei opened unchanged and drifted into the red for a short time until the weaker JPY helped exporters and even late in US trading remains above the 104 handle. Shanghai also went from strength to strength and the Yuan continues […]

The Fed told Congress it would buy stocks if Congress allowed it. This statement has caused a lot of people to scratch their heads. Will this cause all the stock bears to rethink their prognostications of a major stock market crash? This was not even on the radar of most people. Some have reported this […]