ASIA:
India and China have mostly set aside their bilateral differences in order to champion the cause of developing countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). That seems to be changing. During the latest round of China’s trade policy review, India questioned its northern neighbor’s claim that it was a developing country since, going by the World Bank’s definition, its per capita income belongs to that of an upper-middle-income country
The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:
- NIKKEI 225 decreased 844.29 points or -2.88% to 28,487.87
- Shanghai decreased 9.10 points or -0.25% to 3,586.08
- Hang Seng increased 165.61 points or 0.72% to 23,072.86
- ASX 200 decreased 207.50 points or -2.74% to 7,358.30
- Kospi decreased 33.44 points or -1.13% to 2,920.53
- SENSEX decreased 621.31 points or -1.03% to 59,601.84
- Nifty50 decreased 179.35 points or -1.00% to 17,745.90
The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:
- AUDUSD decreased 0.00564 or -0.78% to 0.71654
- NZDUSD decreased 0.0051 or -0.75% to 0.67440
- USDJPY decreased 0.28 or -0.24% to 115.83
- USDCNY increased 0.02203 or 0.35% to 6.39552
Precious Metals:
- Gold decreased 21.63 USD/t oz. or -1.20% to 1,787.90
- Silver decreased 0.638 USD/t. oz or -2.80% to 22.135
Some economic news from last night:
Australia:
Services PMI decreased from 55.7 to 55.1
Japan:
Services PMI (Dec) decreased from 53.0 to 52.1
China:
Caixin Services PMI (Dec) increased from 52.1 to 53.1
EUROPE/EMEA:
Britain’s economic recovery stalled before the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid and the dampening effect of the government’s plan B restrictions on consumer spending in the Christmas shopping period, a wide-ranging company survey has found. Businesses blamed spiraling inflation and shortages of imported goods for a decline in sales in the fourth quarter, which meant that an expansion during the spring and summer ground to a halt.
In a message that will concern the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, the British Chambers of Commerce added that many respondents to its quarterly survey of almost 5,500 firms revealed that they were running low on cash and had ditched investment plans to stay afloat into the new year. The survey also found that the prospect of Bank of England officials raising interest rates was another concern for firms that had taken on extra debt over the last 20 months to cope with the pandemic. The bank raised rates to 0.25% in December.
The major Europe stock markets had a negative day:
- CAC 40 decreased 126.71 points or -1.72% to 7,249.66
- FTSE 100 decreased 66.50 points or -0.88% to 7,450.37
- DAX 30 decreased 219.72 points or -1.35% to 16,052.03
The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:
- EURUSD decreased 0.00207 or -0.18% to 1.12918
- GBPUSD decreased 0.0028 or -0.21% to 1.35282
- USDCHF increased 0.00441 or 0.48% to 0.92165
Some economic news from Europe today:
Germany:
German Factory Orders (MoM) (Nov) increased from -5.8% to 3.7%
IHS Markit Construction PMI (Dec) increased from 47.9 to 48.2
German CPI (YoY) (Dec) increased from 5.2% to 5.3%
German CPI (MoM) (Dec) increased from -0.2% to 0.5%
German HICP (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 6.0% to 5.7%
German HICP (MoM) (Dec) remain the same at 0.3%
UK:
Composite PMI (Dec) decreased from 57.6 to 53.6
Services PMI (Dec) decreased from 58.5 to 53.6
Euro Zone:
PPI (YoY) (Nov) increased from 21.9% to 23.7%
PPI (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 5.4% to 1.8%
US/AMERICAS:
Jobless claims in the US for the week ending on January 1 reached 207,000, according to the Labor Department. Analysts had anticipated initial claims coming in at 195,000, but around 7,000 positions were lost from the previous week. The figure, however, is in line with pre-pandemic conditions when claims averaged 215,000 weekly. Continuing claims climbed to 1.75 million after rising by 36,000.
The US trade imbalance for goods and services spiked to $80.2 billion this November, marking an increase from October’s $67.2 billion reading. Analysts had anticipated a worse deficit of $81.5 billion. The trade imbalance is inching closer to the high in September 2021 of $81.4 billion as trade with the EU, China, and Canada have been affected.
US Market Closings:
- Dow declined 170.64 points or -0.47% to 36,236.47
- S&P 500 declined 4.53 points or -0.1% to 4,696.05
- Nasdaq declined 19.31 points or -0.13% to 15,080.87
- Russell 2000 advanced 12.37 points or 0.56% to 2,206.37
Canada Market Closings:
- TSX Composite advanced 32.54 points or 0.15% to 21,072.2
- TSX 60 advanced 2.88 points or 0.23% to 1,280.63
Brazil Market Closing:
- Bovespa advanced 555.41 points or 0.55% to 101,561.05
ENERGY:
The oil markets had a mixed day today:
- Crude Oil increased 1.42 USD/BBL or 1.82% to 79.2700
- Brent increased 1.05 USD/BBL or 1.30% to 81.8500
- Natural gas decreased 0.067 USD/MMBtu or -1.73% to 3.8150
- Gasoline increased 0.0117 USD/GAL or 0.51% to 2.3038
- Heating oil increased 0.0294 USD/GAL or 1.20% to 2.4755
The above data was collected around 14:08 EST on Thursday
- Top commodity gainers: Coal (7.22%) and Crude Oil (1.82%), Lithium (1.80%), Rhodium (10.51%)
- Top commodity losers: Wheat (-2.23%), Rubber (-2.18%), Silver (-2.80%), and Platinum (-2.24%)
The above data was collected around 14:10 EST on Thursday.
BONDS:
Japan 0.128%(+4.4bp), US 2’s 0.8816% (+0.05%), US 10’s 1.7246% (+2.47bps); US 30’s 2.0896% (-0.00%), Bunds -0.065% (+5.9bp), France 0.257% (+2.1bp), Italy 1.287% (+4.3bp), Turkey 22.63% (+0bp), Greece 1.401% (+2.4bp), Portugal 0.543% (+3.3bp); Spain 0.65% (+4.27bp) and UK Gilts 1.137% (+4.8bp).
