Market Talk – March 3, 2023

ASIA:

The major Asian stock markets had a green day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 428.60 points or 1.56% to 27,927.47
• Shanghai increased 17.74 points or 0.54% to 3,328.39
• Hang Seng increased 138.08 points or 0.68% to 20,567.54
• ASX 200 increased 28.20 points or 0.39% to 7,283.60
• Kospi increased 4.22 points or 0.17% to 2,432.07
• SENSEX increased 899.62 points or 1.53% to 59,808.97
• Nifty50 increased 272.45 points or 1.57% to 17,594.35

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD increased 0.00267 or 0.40% to 0.67557
• NZDUSD decreased 0.00112 or -0.18% to 0.62058
• USDJPY decreased 0.639 or -0.47% to 136.121
• USDCNY decreased 0.01288 or -0.19% to 6.90722

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 10.81 USD/t oz. or 0.59% to 1,846.81
• Silver increased 0.192 USD/t. oz or 0.92% to 21.081

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Caixin Services PMI (Feb) increased from 52.9 to 55.0

Japan:

Jobs/applications ratio (Jan) remain the same at 1.35

Tokyo Core CPI (YoY) (Feb) decreased from 4.3% to 3.3%

CPI Tokyo Ex Food and Energy (MoM) (Feb) increased from 0.1% to 0.3%

Services PMI (Feb) increased from 52.3 to 54.0

Australia:

Home Loans (MoM) decreased from -4.2% to -4.9%

Some economic news from today:

India:

Nikkei Services PMI (Feb) increased from 57.2 to 59.4

FX Reserves, USD decreased from 561.27B to 560.94B

EUROPE/EMEA:

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

• CAC 40 increased 63.90 points or 0.88% to 7,348.12
• FTSE 100 increased 3.07 points or 0.04% to 7,947.11
• DAX 30 increased 250.75 points or 1.64% to 15,578.39

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00153 or 0.14% to 1.06113
• GBPUSD increased 0.00464 or 0.39% to 1.19874
• USDCHF decreased 0.00407 or -0.43% to 0.93813

Some economic news from Europe today:

Germany:

German Trade Balance (Jan) increased from 10.0B to 16.7B

German Services PMI (Feb) increased from 50.7 to 50.9

Spain:

Spanish Services PMI (Feb) increased from 52.7 to 56.7

Italy:

Italian Services PMI (Feb) increased from 51.2 to 51.6

France:

French Services PMI (Feb) increased from 49.4 to 53.1

Euro Zone:

S&P Global Composite PMI (Feb) increased from 50.3 to 52.0

Services PMI (Feb) increased from 50.8 to 52.7

UK:

Composite PMI (Feb) increased from 48.5 to 53.1

Services PMI (Feb) increased from 48.7 to 53.5

US/AMERICAS:

The personal consumption expenditures price index in the US rose by 0.6% for the month and 4.7% on an annual basis, according to a report release by the Commerce Department. Factoring in energy and food, headline inflation continued to rise by 0.6% for the month and 5.4% compared to last year. Consumer spending also saw an increase of 1.8% for the month (1.1% when adjusted for inflation). Personal income rose 1.4%, while the personal saving rate soared 4.7%. Although rates are already at a 41-year high, these key indicators are likely to cause the Fed to continuing tightening their monetary policy as it has failed to stabilize prices. Energy prices alone rose 2% for the month, goods increased by 0.6%, and food rose by 0.4%. On an annual basis, energy is up 9.6% and food is an unsustainable 11.1% higher.

Amazon announced that it is halting construction in its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Amazon’s real estate chief John Schoettler stated that the project will recommence and this June. The company has already hired 8,000 employees for the second headquarters, dubbed Met Park. The company had been searching for a location for HQ2 since 2017, and over 238 communities submitted bids to welcome Amazon’s business. The company originally settled on New York but backtracked after political backlash. The company is ultimately planning to bring 25,000 tech positions to Arlington in the near future.

US Market Closings:

• Dow advanced 387.4 points or 1.17% to 33,390.97
• S&P 500 advanced 64.29 points or 1.61% to 4,045.64
• Nasdaq advanced 226.02 points or 1.97% to 11,689.01
• Russell 2000 advanced 25.6 points or 1.35% to 1,928.26

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite advanced 244.37 points or 1.2% to 20,581.58
• TSX 60 advanced 14.83 points or 1.21% to 1,238.22

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa advanced 540.38 points or 0.52 points to 103,865.99

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a green day today:

• Crude Oil increased 0.821 USD/BBL or 1.05% to 78.981
• Brent increased 0.483 USD/BBL or 0.57% to 85.233
• Natural gas increased 0.0912 USD/MMBtu or 3.30% to 2.8562
• Gasoline increased 0.0218 USD/GAL or 0.81% to 2.7221
• Heating oil increased 0.0279 USD/GAL or 0.97% to 2.8941

The above data was collected around 11:56 EST on Friday

• Top commodity gainers: Natural Gas (3.30%), Sugar (3.10%), Rhodium (4.79%) and Bitumen (1.84%)
• Top commodity losers: Oat (-3.83%), Coffee (-1.93%), Lumber (-1.56%) and Coal (-3.03%)

The above data was collected around 12:04 EST Friday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.504% (-0.2bp), US 2’s 4.88% (-0.022%), US 10’s 3.9890% (-8.4bps); US 30’s 3.92% (-0.105%), Bunds 2.721% (-3.3bp), France 3.206% (-2.8bp), Italy 4.535% (-8.6bp), Turkey 11.22% (+66bp), Greece 4.486% (-4bp), Portugal 3.586% (-5.7bp); Spain 3.741% (-4.8bp) and UK Gilts 3.856% (-2.4bp).

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