Stocks wallow in post-payrolls gloom

 

Equities trade lower

The mood in Asia this morning was an extension of the US close on Friday, with equity markets and the US dollar extending declines.US indices slid between 0.27% and 0.46%, with the US30 index under-performing. Onshore Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday but futures markets were also lower. The surprise was the HK33 index which traded marginally in the black, despite reports of an anti-communist protest building.

 

Currencies less affected

Currency markets were mixed in Asia, shrugging off the lackluster US payrolls report. The Australian dollar out-performed, rising 0.28% versus the US dollar and 0.39% versus the Japanese yen. AUD/USD is now trading at the highest level in almost a week while AUD/JPY has reached levels not seen since January 3.

 

AUD/USD Daily Chart

Source: OANDA fxTrade

 

Steady China growth expected

With China’s fourth quarter GDP growth numbers due on Friday, local press is full of rumours and speculation (and possible leaks) about how strong the expansion will be. The China Daily reported that think tank CASS sees 6% growth for the full year 2020 while the China Securities Journal stated that another think tank also reckoned the economy would expand by 6% this year.

Meanwhile, news agency Xinhua reported that GDP growth in Beijing was 6.1%-6.2% in 2019, down from 6.6% in 2018. The latest Bloomberg survey has a median estimate of 6.0% growth for Q4 with a range of 5.9% to 6.3%. Q3 growth was 6.0% y/y.

 

UK production data on tap

The data calendar is very Europe-centric, with UK manufacturing and industrial production data the main event. Industrial production probably declined 0.2% m/m in November, according to the latest survey of economists, negating the 0.1% expansion seen in October. November’s goods trade deficit is expected to narrow to £11.6 billion from £14.5 billion in October.

The North American session has only Canada’s BOC business outlook survey to monitor.

 

The full MarketPulse data calendar can be viewed at https://www.marketpulse.com/economic-events/

 

 

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson

Senior Market Analyst at MarketPulse
A seasoned professional with more than 30 years’ experience in foreign exchange, interest rates and commodities, Andrew Robinson is a senior market analyst with OANDA, responsible for providing timely and relevant market commentary and live market analysis throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Having previously worked in Europe, since moving to Singapore he worked with several leading institutions including Bloomberg, Saxo Capital Markets and Informa Global Markets, proving FX strategies based on a combination of technical and fundamental analysis as well as market flow information. Andrew began his career as an FX dealer with NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK.
Andrew Robinson

Latest posts by Andrew Robinson (see all)