Axi | Nov 01, 2017 09:13
Originally published by AxiTrader
Welcome to my daily Markets Musings.
This is essentially my little black book, the diary of market moves I’ve been writing for myself since April 1988.
It’s not supposed to catch everything – just the things that help me build the fundamental narrative I need around what’s happening in the markets I watch, and which then readies me to take the technical signals when they come.
Feedback always welcome
Greg
h2 Market Summary/h2(Bitcoin) is going mainstream.
Whether it’s the FT, Business Insider, Reuters, Bloomberg, or CNBC that’s the big story across markets overnight as the CME announces plans to launch a cash-settled Bitcoin future in Q4 this year. That’s huge for Bitcoin as it will drag in big investors – so it rallied again as a result and is at $6,351.
On other markets stocks in Europe and the US are higher again this morning after more solid earnings and some solid consumer confidence data in the US. At the close the S&P 500 is up 0.09% at 2,575, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a similar amount at 23,377 and the Nasdaq 100 is doing what it is want to do and has risen another 0.34% to close at a new record of 6,248.
Those moves, and the rallies in EU stocks, have emboldened SPI traders who have added 26 points overnight after yesterday’s 10 point loss on the physical S&P/ASX 200 index which saw it close at 5909.
On forex markets the battle between the US dollar and euro continues. Euro bears had an excuse last night but didn’t take it, so EUR/USD is stable at 1.1650 with the US Dollar Index also unmoved day on day at 94.54. The pound has had another cracking night though on positivity toward Brexit talks – it’s up 0.6% at 1.3283. Other than that the US dollar is mostly strong with the yen (USD/JPY 113.64) down 0.4% and the Swiss franc (USD/CHF 0.9971) off 0.3%. And it’s been another poor day for the commodity bloc. Weak data in Canada, the ban on foreign real estate buyers in New Zealand, and the weaker than expected Chinese PMI’s yesterday hurt each of the three currencies.
So this morning we have the Aussie down 0.35% at 0.7660, the kiwi at 0.6842, off 0.5%, while the Canadian dollar also lost half a percent with USD/CAD1.2894.
On commodity markets gold is lower down 0.5% to $1269. Copper is sitting at $3.09 and still looking pressured while oil’s rally continued with WTI up 0.4% at $54.38 and Brent up 0.7% to $61.32. Iron ore futures look like they have stabililsed around $60 a tonne.
On the data front the new month kicks off with a bang today. South Korean inflation and trade data along with a raft of Asian, European and America’s manufacturing PMI data. Of particular note traders will be watching the Caixin China manufacturing PMI in our timezone today. And of course at 5am tomorrow morning we get the result of the Fed’s latest meeting. No one is expecting any chance in rates or the taper but the statement from the FOMC will still be important.
h2 Here's What I Picked Up (with a little more detail and a few charts)/h2 h2 International/h2read this interview in the AFR with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. It is so rich in content on so many markets with links out to other stories. There are two key takeaways I wanted to share with you. First Fink noted that after the 19th Congress in China there is currently a level of uncertainty about the reform process and the slowdown that may cause in China. But he added that “I think his first five years have shown that the Xi Government has done very well in terms of navigating the economy and improving the quality of life for more Chinese. In theory, some elements of the society may have less rights, but on the other hand I would say the majority of society in China have done very well. I would qualify the Chinese leadership as one of the best leadership teams in the world”. SPOT ON.
Have a great day's trading.
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