Market Talk – September 28, 2023

ASIA:

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced a forthcoming economic stimulus package aimed at alleviating the impact of rising prices and increasing wages for households. The plan includes steps to combat cost-push inflation, support sustainable wage growth, stimulate domestic investment, address population decline, and encourage infrastructure spending. Kishida intends to steer the Japanese economy away from a focus on cost reduction. Additionally, he cautioned against currency depreciation, as it could lead to higher import costs for essential goods like food and energy, emphasizing his close monitoring of currency movements with a sense of urgency.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 decreased 499.38 points or -1.54% to 31,872.52
• Shanghai increased 3.16 points or 0.10% to 3,110.48
• Hang Seng decreased 238.84 points or -1.36% to 17,373.03
• ASX 200 decreased 5.50 points or -0.08% to 7,024.80
• Kospi closed
• SENSEX decreased 610.37 points or -0.92% to 65,508.32
• Nifty50 decreased 192.90 points or -0.98% to 19,523.55

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD increased 0.00706 or 1.11% to 0.64226
• NZDUSD increased 0.00385 or 0.65% to 0.59595
• USDJPY decreased 0.349 or -0.23% to 149.281
• USDCNY decreased 0.02951 or -0.40% to 7.29458

The above data was collected around 16.04 EST.

Precious Metals:

• Gold decreased 7.82 USD/t oz. or -0.42% to 1,866.88
• Silver increased 0.100 USD/t. oz or 0.45% to 22.619

The above data was collected around 16:07 EST.

Some economic news from last night:

Australia:

Retail Sales (MoM) (Aug) decreased from 0.5% to 0.2%

No economic news from today:

EUROPE/EMEA:

On Thursday, British government bonds, particularly 30-year gilts, experienced a significant decline in prices, reaching their lowest levels since October 2022. This sell-off was part of a broader trend across Europe. The yields on 30-year gilts, which move inversely to prices, rose by over 17 basis points to reach 4.964%, surpassing recent highs and marking the highest level since October 12, 2022. Similarly, 10-year gilt yields increased by 17 basis points to 4.53%, reflecting the largest daily price drop since February 6 and mirroring market movements from last October.

Additionally, the Bank of England announced plans to establish a permanent facility to support pension funds and insurers during periods of illiquidity in the gilt market, addressing a problem that exacerbated the gilt market decline observed in the previous year.

The major Europe stock markets had a green day today:

• CAC 40 increased 44.45 points or 0.63% to 7,116.24
• FTSE 100 increased 8.63 points or 0.11% to 7,601.85
• DAX 30 increased 106.05 points or 0.70% to 15,323.50

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00656 or 0.62% to 1.05656
• GBPUSD increased 0.0066 or 0.54% to 1.22000
• USDCHF decreased 0.00590 or -0.64% to 0.91524

The above data was collected around 16:15 EST.

Some economic news from Europe today:

Germany:

German CPI (YoY) (Sep) decreased from 6.1% to 4.5%

German CPI (MoM) (Sep) remain the same at 0.3%

Spain:

Spanish CPI (YoY) (Sep) increased from 2.6% to 3.5%

Spanish HICP (YoY) (Sep) increased from 2.4% to 3.2%

US/AMERICAS:

The New York civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump and his company is set to start on Monday, October 3rd, after a state appeals court lifted a temporary stay of the case. The order came hours after New York Attorney General Letitia James said she plans to call Trump and three of his adult children as witnesses in the case. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron this week found the defendants liable for fraudulently inflating the values of their real estate assets. The trial comes after two of the Trump Organization’s subsidiary companies were found guilty of 17 charges, including tax fraud, in December 2022. The former president was not indicted in that case, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has said Trump remains under investigation.

US Market Closings:

• Dow advanced 116.07 points or 0.35% to 33,666.34
• S&P 500 advanced 25.19 points or 0.59% to 4,299.7
• Nasdaq advanced 108.43 points or 0.83% to 13,201.28
• Russell 2000 advanced 15,41 points or 0.87% to 1,794.31

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite advanced 154.76 points or 0.8% to 19,590.74
• TSX 60 advanced 9.68 points or 0.83% to 1,175.93

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa advanced 1,410.5 points or 1.23% to 115,737.55

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

• Crude Oil decreased 2.018 USD/BBL or -2.15% to 91.662
• Brent decreased 1.35 USD/BBL or -1.40% to 95.200
• Natural gas increased 0.0419 USD/MMBtu or 1.45% to 2.9409
• Gasoline decreased 0.0872 USD/GAL or -3.36% to 2.5114
• Heating oil increased 0.0199 USD/GAL or 0.60% to 3.3346

The above data was collected around 16:20 EST.

• Top commodity gainers: Sugar (2.30%), Zinc (5.96%), Palladium (3.86%) and HRC Steel (2.55%)
• Top commodity losers: Rapeseed (-1.60%), Orange Juice (-2.62%), Gasoline (-3.36%) and Crude Oil (-2.15%)

The above data was collected around 16:30 EST.

BONDS:

Japan 0.756% (+1.5bp), US 2’s 5.06% (-0.077%), US 10’s 4.5748% (-5.12bps); US 30’s 4.70% (-0.029%), Bunds 2.927% (+9.5bp), France 3.492% (+8.9bp), Italy 4.908% (+12.2bp), Turkey 26.75% (+98bp), Greece 4.508% (+19.2bp), Portugal 3.747% (+14.1bp); Spain 4.016% (+7.6bp) and UK Gilts 4.489% (+12.9bp)

The above data was collected around 16:33 EST.