Global Markets Update
- U.S. equity markets closed higher overnight, with the Dow Jones up +1.5%, S&P 500 up +1.2% and NASDAQ gaining +1.0%. U.S. initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the week ended September 18, rising 16k to 351k, led by a surge in claims in California. A measure of activity at U.S. service providers and manufacturers in September grew at the slowest pace in a year, with services PMI sliding to its lowest level since July and manufacturing PMI slipping to 5-month low, restrained by nagging supply-chain and labor challenges as well as the delta variant.
- Long-dated U.S. treasury yields were higher, with the 2-Yr yield at 0.261% and the 10-Yr yield at 1.434%.
- European markets. European equity markets closed mostly higher overnight, with both the Stoxx Europe 600 and German DAX up +0.9%. The U.K. FTSE 100 declined -0.1%, as the pound surged after the BOE kept its benchmark unchanged at a record-low 0.1% and raised the prospect of hiking interest rates as soon as November to contain a surge in inflation, which it now expects will exceed 4% following a spike in energy prices. Business activity in the euro area “markedly” lost momentum in September with both services and manufacturing PMI slowing more than expected, bringing overall activity to a five-month low, after demand peaked over the summer and supply chain bottlenecks hurt businesses bringing input costs to the highest in 21 years.
- Asian markets. Asian equity markets closed mostly higher overnight, with the Shanghai Composite up +0.4%, and Hang Seng up +1.2%, after financial regulators in Beijing issued a broad set of instructions to China Evergrande Group, encouraging the developer to take all measures possible to avoid a near-term default on dollar bonds while focusing on completing unfinished properties and repaying individual investors. KOSPI was down -0.4% and Nikkei 225 remained closed for a holiday.
- WTI oil is trading at US$73.24 a barrel. Iron ore price is at US$99.04 per ton. Spot gold is trading at US$1,743 per oz.
ASX Market Update
- ASX performance. The ASX 200 closed +1.00% higher yesterday.
- News Corp (NWS) was up +8.4%, after the Board authorized a $1bn stock repurchase program.
- Today’s trading. In Japan, CPI and PMI data is to be published.