- US indices finished yesterday’s trading lower with all major Wall Street indices dropping over 1%. S&P 500 dropped 1.79%, Dow Jones moved 1.40% lower and Nasdaq slumped 1.93%. Russell 2000 was top laggard with a 2.78% plunge
- Jump in bond yields is seen as a reason behind the pressure on US equity market yesterday. Release of better-than-expected services ISM index sent market rates higher
- Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly lower today. S&P/ASX 200, Kospi and Nifty 50 dropped, indices from China traded mixed and Nikkei gained 0.2%
- DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European cash session today
- Reserve Bank of Australia delivered a 25 basis point rate hike, putting the main interest rate at 3.10% – the highest level since early-2013. Decision was in-line with market expectations. Statement showed that RBA Board expects interest rates to be raised further in the near future
- AUD gained slightly following RBA decision but move was rather small as a 25 bp rate hike was expected and priced-in before the meeting
- According to Financial Times, US Treasury is finalizing plans for a package regulating the cryptocurrency industry. Details are scarce but FT reports that it will include, among other things, limits on advertising
- BoJ Governor Kuroda said that benefits of current easy monetary policy outweigh the costs
- Japanese household spending increased 1.2% YoY in October (exp. 1.0% YoY)
- Energy commodities trade mixed – oil is trading a touch higher while natural gas drops
- In spite of a USD strengthening, precious metals trade mixed. Silver and palladium gain while gold and platinum drop
- AUD and USD are the best performing major currencies while CHF and JPY lag the most
AUDUSD ticked higher following RBA rate decision but scale of the move was small. The pair pulled back from the upper limit of the Overbalance structure recently and the outlook looks somewhat bearish.
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