Market Talk – April 4, 2023

ASIA:

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 99.27 points or 0.35% to 28,287.42
• Shanghai increased 16.16 points or 0.49% to 3,312.56
• Hang Seng decreased 134.59 points or -0.66% to 20,274.59
• ASX 200 increased 13.00 points or 0.18% to 7,236.00
• Kospi increased 8.17 points or 0.33% to 2,480.51
• SENSEX increased 114.92 points or 0.19% to 59,106.44
• Nifty50 increased 38.30 points or 0.22% to 17,398.05

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.0034 or -0.50% to 0.67510
• NZDUSD increased 0.00158 or 0.25% to 0.63118
• USDJPY decreased 0.756 or -0.57% to 131.654
• USDCNY increased 0.00269 or 0.04% to 6.87899

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 37.35 USD/t oz. or 1.88% to 2,021.46
• Silver increased 1.005 USD/t. oz or 4.19% to 25.000

Some economic news from last night:

South Korea:

CPI (YoY) (Mar) decreased from 4.8% to 4.2%

New Zealand:

NZIER Business Confidence (Q1) increased from -70% to -66%

Some economic news from today:

Australia:

RBA Interest Rate Decision (Apr) remain the same at 3.60%

EUROPE/EMEA:

The major Europe stock markets had a mixed day:

• CAC 40 decreased 1.00 points or -0.01% to 7,344.96
• FTSE 100 decreased 38.48 points or -0.50% to 7,634.52
• DAX 30 increased 22.55 points or 0.14% to 15,603.47

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00612 or 0.56% to 1.09562
• GBPUSD increased 0.00898 or 0.72% to 1.25008
• USDCHF decreased 0.0063 or -0.69% to 0.90610

Some economic news from Europe today:

Spain:

Spanish Unemployment Change decreased from 2.6K to -48.8K

Germany:

German Trade Balance (Feb) remain the same at 16.0B

US/AMERICAS:

For the first time in history, a former president of the United States was arrested. Donald Trump has been charged with 34 felonies surrounding payments made to various individuals in his personal affairs before the 2016 US Presidential Election. Protests have erupted in America as cities prepare for waves of civil unrest.

Job openings in the US dopped by 632,000 positions from January to February, according to the JOLTs report from the Labor Department. Job openings came in at 9.93 million, marking the first time this figure was beneath 10 million since May 2021. Available positions still outnumber available workers by 1.7 to 1. Quits increased by 146,000 to over 4 million. Professional and business services declined by 278,000 positions. Trade, transportation, and utilities experienced a notable decease as well after declining by 210,000. The Labor Department will release its March nonfarm payroll this report this Friday, and Fed officials are looking to see signs of easing.

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 198.77 points or -0.59% to 33,402.38
• S&P 500 declined 23.91 points or -0.58% to 4,100.6
• Nasdaq declined 63.13 points or -0.52% to 12,126.33
• Russell 2000 declined 32.66 points or -1.81% to 1,769.65

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 2.52 points or -0.01% to 20,275.76
• TSX 60 advanced 1.22 points or 0.1% to 1,220.16

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa advanced 363.27 points or 0.36% to 101,869.45

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

• Crude Oil increased 0.668 USD/BBL or 0.83% to 81.088
• Brent increased 0.42 USD/BBL or 0.49% to 85.350
• Natural gas decreased 0.0052 USD/MMBtu or -0.25% to 2.0918
• Gasoline decreased 0.0012 USD/GAL or -0.04% to 2.7563
• Heating oil increased 0.0172 USD/GAL or 0.65% to 2.6798

The above data was collected around 16:33 EST on Tuesday

• Top commodity gainers: Gold (1.88%), Silver (4.19%), Platinum (3.34%) and Palm Oil (2.11%)
• Top commodity losers: Oat (-2.08%), Rapeseed (-2.40%), Lean Hogs (-3.09%) and Zinc (-2.16%)

The above data was collected around 16:39 EST Tuesday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.402% (+2.6bp), US 2’s 3.83% (-0.155%), US 10’s 3.3386% (-9.34bps); US 30’s 3.59% (-0.051%), Bunds 2.257% (+1.6bp), France 2.772% (+2.1bp), Italy 4.114% (+2.3bp), Turkey 10.23% (+0bp), Greece 4.234% (-0.6bp), Portugal 3.135% (+3.2bp); Spain 3.293% (+2.3bp) and UK Gilts 3.434% (+0.6bp).

The post Market Talk – April 4, 2023 first appeared on Armstrong Economics.