rss

It is PMI day in Europe

The risk mood will continue to dictate proceedings as we get settled into the new week. There is an element of pushing and pulling in markets after the solid push higher in the dollar and worsening risk sentiment over the past two months. Dollar bets are cooling off and deleveraging and selling pressures are also more contained for now. Call it an overdue correction or retracement but it is what it is.

Looking ahead, the latest PMI readings in Europe are expected to reaffirm roughly similar conditions in April. The focus will continue to reside on inflation pressures and the broadening impact towards businesses and consumers, with the outlook still facing some key risks as such.

0645 GMT – France May business confidence
0715 GMT – France May flash manufacturing, services, composite PMI
0730 GMT – Germany May flash manufacturing, services, composite PMI
0800 GMT – Eurozone May flash manufacturing, services, composite PMI
0830 GMT – UK May flash manufacturing, services, composite PMI
1000 GMT – UK May CBI retailing reported sales

That’s all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there.

Further China support for Russia – wants to erode dominance of USD

In summary:

  • Some Chinese advisers are urging the government to overhaul the exchange rate regime and turn the yuan into an anchor currency, especially for the Asia region
  • Worries are mounting that China could be kicked out of the Swift financial messaging system or cut off from its foreign assets if relations with the US worsen

If you can access the article at the SCMP its an interesting read. From time-to-time there is a flurry of opinion on how the USD is declining and will be replaced by some other reserve or reserve currencies. Its usually very ill-informed opinion. This article is unlikely to herald a new era of yuan international dominance but its an interesting read, and reasoning out of China, nonetheless.

I posted this on the DXY last week, the death of the US dollar has been greatly exaggerated:

dxy 18 May 2022

Solid gains for the major indices today Dow industrial average up nearly 2%

The major US stock  indices  are ending the day solidly higher with the Dow industrial average up near 2%. The Dow is looking to break and 8 week losing streak which has not occur since 1923. Both the S&P and Dow industrial average have been down for 7 consecutive weeks.

The final numbers are showing:

  • Dow industrial average rose 618.60 points or 1.98% at 31880.51
  • S&P index is up 72.43 points or 1.86% at 3973.79
  • NASDAQ index is up 180.67 points or 1.59% at 11535.28
  • Russell 2000 is up 19.49 points or 1.10% at 1792.76

The financials were big winners with J.P. Morgan up $7.20 or 6.14% at $124.54. Citicorp was up $3.03 or 6.09% of $52.78.

After the close Zoom reported better than expected EPS with revenues in line with expectations:

  • EPS came in at $1.03 vs $0.87 estimate
  • Revenues $1.073B vs $1.073 estimate

Zoom shares are trading at $104.44 after closing at $89.33