Good morning
US equities ended slightly higher yesterday, most of the Asian markets followed suit. Chinese stocks however took another plunge of over 3% as they continue to crack down on their own tech and education firms. This is not something new, the shares of some education firms have been falling since February is which time some US$769 billion has been wiped off the value of US listed Chinese stocks. There are now fears that China may target firms in other sectors, although the Chinese state news agencies have been trying to calm the markets.
GBP had a reasonable day yesterday despite some dovish comments from Vlieghe, GBPUSD broke above 1.3800 to reach 1.3830 although as I type it has been sold off back through 1.3800 to reach 1.3785. EURGBP traded back down to 0.8540 (GBPEUR 1.1710). Some talk UK may open up travel restrictions from US and Europe although I do get the impression that the US and some of the EU may not be quite as eager to welcome UK travellers given the Delta variant.
Elsewhere, North and South Korea have reopened the lines of communication that have been shut for over a year. Whether this is out of desperation from North Korea, who are said to be struggling for food, remains to be seen, but it must be seen as a positive step.
I’m out for much of the day today, catching up with some clients we haven’t seen for a while. I’m away this evening so there will be no report tomorrow morning. I’ve added in the calendar for Wednesday, the highlight of which is certainly the FOMC rate announcement. There does seem to be some difference of opinion between FOMC officials over tapering of asset purchases, it will be very interesting to see what the meeting produces.
- 13.30 US durable goods
- 13.35 RBAs Debelle speaks
- 15.00 US consumer confidence
- 00.01 UK BRC shop prices
- 00.50 BoJ summary of opinions
- 02.30 AUS CPI
Wednesday
- 13.30 US wholesale inventories
- 13.30 CAD CPI
- 19.00 FOMC rate announcement
- 19.30 FOMC press conference
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