Overnight Points of Interest
2013 May 21 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# In generally muted trade European stocks pushed to fresh 5 year highs howeverU.S.stocks could not hold the early rally to new intraday all-time highs, ending marginally down on the day. The EuroStoxx600 ended up 0.34% whilst the S&P500 ended down 0.07%
# No surprise here with the movements in JPY over the last 9 months, the Reuters JP Tankan Index for Japan Manufacturers climbed 11 points to 7.0 as the JPY slide bolsters exporters’ confidence
# Regarding the ‘tapering’ debate the Fed’s Evans said he has “ tried to resist talking about tapering” but the economy should reach “escape velocity” in 2014.
# The precious metals have had an outrageous 24 hours. Silver, in a rather suspicious move, melted down 10% on the Monday morning open only to rebound to end up this morning 3% from Fridays closing price. Somewhat similarly, but with less volatility, Gold fell from Friday’s NY close of US$1,360 to $1,339.00 only to stage a sharp reversal to end this morning at $1,395.00. Both metals have in the process traced out significant ‘key day reversals’.
# The NZD was the strongest of the G-10 currencies overnight buoyed in part by the strong Performance of Services Index released yesterday. From Fridays low of 0.8060 the kiwi reached 0.8180 where it now sits.
Ahead
# Australian CB Leading Index
# RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes
# N.Z. Inflation Expectations
# N.Z. Credit Card Spending
#UKInflation
Cheers G.
BBY (NZ) Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 May 16 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# The rally in European andU.S.shares equities continues unabated with the EuroStoxx600 rising to fresh 5 year highs whilst the S&P500 closes at new all-time highs. The bourses closed up 0.79% and 0.51% respectively despite a poor Eurozone GDP read and a set of underwhelmingU.S.data.
#U.S. Industrial Production fell a larger than forecast 0.5%, the most in 8 months.
# The U.S. Empire Manufacturing Index unexpectedly contracted in May, falling into negative territory at -1.43 when +4.0 was expected. The reading was the lowest level in 4 months as employment intentions pulled back and new orders fell.
# To complete the trifecta, U.S. Producer Prices recorded their largest drop in three years as gasoline and food costs tumbled, pointing to weak inflation pressures.
# The one bright light was that confidence amongU.S.homebuilders improved in May for the first time in five months as buyers rush to take advantage of near record-low mortgage rates. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence rose to 44 from a revised 41 in April.
# The data bought the run higher in US bond yields to a halt with the benchmark 10 year bond retreating from 2 month highs of 1.98% to 1.93%.
# Advance European Q1 GDP figures were disappointing. The 6th consecutive contraction in Eurozone GDP was slightly larger than expected at -0.2% vs. -0.1% expected with a meagre +0.1%q/q increase in German GDP growth particularly worrying ( +0.3% expected) .
# Under PM Abe’s ‘all in’ program to kick start the Japanese economy, the BOJ announced it will pump ¥2.8t into the money market to “address the rapid increase in longer-term interest rates”. This afterJapan’s 5-year borrowing costs rose aboveGermany’s for the first time in 20 years.
# Gold futures tumbled below $1,400 an ounce, extending the longest slump in almost three months, as the dollar’s rally eroded demand for the metal as an alternative investment. Silver fell to a three-week low. The greenback climbed to a nine-month high against a basket of major currencies. The euro fell to the lowest in almost six weeks against the dollar as the euro-area’s recession extended to a record sixth straight quarter. Gold has declined 17 % this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value.
Ahead
# Business N.Z. Manufacturing Index
# JapanPrelim GDP
# N.Z. Annual Budget
# JapanIndustrial Production
# Eurozone CPI Data
# U.S.Building Permits
# U.S.CPI
# U.S.Housing Starts
# U.S Philadelphia Fed Survey
Cheers G.
BBY (NZ) Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 April 22 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# Equity market action Friday appeared to have all the hallmarks of position squaring into the weekend after a week of rather heavy falls. The EuroStoxx600 rose 0.52% to be down 2.46% on the week. The S&P500 rose 0.88% to end the week down 2.1%. The modest gains apparently came on very light volume which is a negative for bulls.
# Ratings agency Fitch cut the UK’s sovereign debt rating to AA+ from AAA, citing a weaker economic and fiscal outlook. But it returned the outlook to “stable”, removing the threat of any further rating action, at least in the near term. This aligns the rating with Moody’s downgrade earlier this year so does not come as a huge surprise.
# The G20 didn’t single out Japan for overseeing a huge fall in the JPY since mid-November when it first became apparent that Abe would be the next Japan PM. If there was criticism of Japan’s policies – the G20 members kept it on the hush-hush. As a result USD/JPY is probing towards 100.00 this morning with the market sensing a ‘green light’ for further JPY weakness. It appears the G20 is less concerned about currency wars and sovereign debt blow-outs and instead want to encourage economic growth initiatives. This is the main reason Japan escaped criticism for at least indirectly pushing the value of the Yen significantly lower.
# Australian Treasurer Swan said the Australian budget has taken a 7.5 BLN AUD “sledgehammer hit” saying the high Australian dollar and falling terms of trade are to blame.
# Italian Parliament elected Napolitano to second term as President with overwhelming majority.
# Best to worst performing currencies last week
CCY Apr5 Apr 12 % change
EUR 1.3111 1.3051 -0.46%
CHF 0.9270 0.9332 -0.67%
GBP 1.5348 1.5230 -0.77%
JPY 98.38 99.50 -1.14%
CAD 1.0137 1.0270 -1.31%
NZD 0.8414 0.8421 -1.91%
AUD 1.0503 1.0275 -2.17%
# Comment – The mood last week was decidedly “risk-off” as equities and commodities sold off in some of the biggest moves since the start of 2013. The USD was the main beneficiary of the move out of risk – as the JPY no longer holds a safe-haven status. Not surprisingly – the “risk/commodity” currencies, the AUD, NZD and CAD were the worst performing.
# Commodities were mixed with gold stabilizing and closing above 1,400 for a 0.95% gain; U.S. Crude rose 0.32% while Copper continued to underperform – falling 1.38% and closing below 7,000 – the first time it had a weekly close below 7,000 in almost three years. Iron Ore fell slightly to 138.43 from Thursday’s close at 138.85. For the week gold fell 5.04%; Brent Crude fell 3.36%; U.S. Crude fell 3.59%; Copper fell 5.82% and Iron Ore fell 2.58%.
# Italian and Spanish bond yields continued to edge lower as yield seeking investors are happy to ignore political and economic negatives for the time being. The 10-year Italian bond yield eased to 4.22% from 4.25% while the 10-year Spanish debt yield closed at 4.63% down from Thursday’s close at 4.66%. Clearly participants here see a much increased chance of a forthcoming rate cut out of the Eurozone.
Ahead
Key data in the week ahead The key US data in the week ahead will be Q1 advanced GDP on Friday, which is expected to come in at a healthy 3.0%. Other US data includes Existing Home Sales; New Home Sales; Durable Goods and Univ of Mich Sentiment Index. Key EZ data includes advances MFG PMI data on Tuesday and German IFO on Wednesday. HSBC Flash China MFG PMI is out on Tuesday and will be a key event in Asia. The BoJ meets again Thursday/Friday and the RBNZ announces on Wednesday.
Cheers G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 April 11 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# The exuberance is back but is it irrational? European stocks roared higher gaining the most in a month and posting the longest winning streak since January. Positive China news in recent days and an agreement on a U.S budget compromise fuelled gains. The S&P500 also ended sharply higher up 1.22% at close of play, a new all-time high to complement the recent new highs in the Dow and Dow Transports .
#The NZD has been the strongest of the G-10 currencies driven by talk that the infamous ‘carry trade’ is back on in full force. With the Japanese authorities clearly happy to see the JPY devalue, the market is borrowing JPY at next to no cost, selling it and buying higher yielders. With leverage plumping up the returns combined with an expectation that the borrowed currency will depreciate, the strategy is highly compelling. The NZD/USD sits at 18 month highs at 0.8572 whilst NZD/JPY has risen nearly 10% to 85.60 since the BOJ announcement on Thursday. USD/JPY is within spitting distance of the magical 100.00 mark, residing on its highs at 99.75 presently.
# The divide between the core and periphery of Europe was starkly documented on the release of European Industrial Production data. French Industrial Production bounced back in February, gaining 0.7% the previous month as manufacturing activity provided the main driver of growth. The market had looked for a rise of 0.2%. However Italian and Spanish IP showed sharp falls, suggesting that the bloc’s third and fourth largest economies are still mired in recession. On an monthly basis, Spanish Industrial Production fell by 1.2% to be down 6.5% annualized. Italian IP fell 0.8% on the month for a 3.8% annualized loss.
# An accidental release of the FED Minutes some 5 hours early by a long term, career FED employee provided an interesting sideshow on the day. The minutes revealed the lively debate at the Fed about when exactly to begin winding down asset purchases. A growing consensus appear to favour ‘tapering’ purchases from sometime later this year despite the unemployment target expressed in recent minutes. Interestingly, the early release gave the market half an hour to digest the news (and reducing volatility) before equity markets opened, leading some to question why the Fed doesn’t embrace the earlier time slot going forward. The minutes were formulated before last Friday’s U.S. employment report which may stunt the ‘tapering’ talk for now.
# Prices for government bonds dropped further after President Barack Obama released his budget proposal, which calls for more than $700 billion in new taxes over 10 years. The plan would also increase spending 6% from 2013 levels and allow the debt, as a share of the economy, to grow to 73% by 2023–much higher than the 54.8% level that the House Republicans had called for. U.S 10 year bond yields rose to 1.80% from 1.70% 2 days ago.
# Gold fell the most in 5 months on the FED ‘tapering’ talk (stimulus removal) and news that Cyprus plans to sell “the excess amount of gold” owned by the state, yielding an estimated 400 million euros. Gold fell US$28 or 1.8%
# Japan’s Kuroda will explain latest easing measures at G-20 if needed, BOJ easing not aimed at weakening yen, no plans to adjust policy for now, will scrutinize policies monthly
# IMF’s Lagarde Doesn’t expect higher growth in 2013 than 2012, EZ banks need higher capital buffers, too big to fail more dangerous than ever, CB easing needed, may create new financial risks, EZ should recapitalize troubled banks
Ahead
# NZ Business Manufacturing Index
# Australian MI Inflation Expectations
# Australian Employment Change (last month they had the unbelievable +71k result – today’s release will be very interesting)
# U.S Unemployment Claims
Cheers till Tuesday
G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 April 10 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# The much softer than expected Chinese inflation data yesterday spurred global stock markets to record mild gains on the basis of less requirement for monetary tightening policies in the world’s 2nd biggest economy. The EuroStoxx600 rose 0.15% and the S&P500 ended up 0.35% The Dow Jones Index rose to a new record high closing price. The Q1 earnings season is upon us now and the street appears to have downbeat expectations that are being topped to date.
# Commodities were up against the board. Gold built nicely on the reversal signal of last week (when gold sentiment had fallen to complete ‘disdain’) and crude jumped the most in 2 months sending the CRB index 0.6% higher as a result.
# The JPY slowed its dramatic decline after depreciating nearly 7% against the dollar since the Bank of Japan unveiled a massive stimulus program last week. The JPY has lost over 24% of its value against the USD in the last 4 months. From yesterday’s high of 99.67 the USD/JPY fell as low as 98.60 before stabilising at 99.00 this morning.
# Confidence among U.S. small businesses fell in March for the first time in four months as job creation plans soured. The National Federation of Independent Business optimism index dropped to 89.5 last month from 90.8 in February. Six of the measures 10 components contributed to the decline. The share of business owners planning to create jobs dropped 4 points to zero in March at the same time sales expectations deteriorated. “Virtually no owners think the current period is a good time to expand”, William Dunkelberg, the group’s chief economist said.
# UK Manufacturing Production bounced back in February with output growing by 0.8%, more than double the consensus forecast for 0.4%
# UK Industrial Production also easily beat expectations rising 1.0%m/m against 0.4% expected
# Ratings agency Fitch downgraded China’s long-term local currency rating from AA- to A+, citing a number of “underlying structural weaknesses”. The cut in China’s sovereign credit rating was the first by a major international agency for the first time since 1999 with Fitch raising concerns that the country’s rising debt problems will require a government bailout. The ‘underlying structural weakness’ was said to be ‘low average incomes, lagging standards of governance, and a rapid expansion of credit’. The agency also warned of the growing risks from the rise of shadow banking, and said that total credit in China may have reached 198% of gross domestic product by the end of last year, up from 125% in 2008.
Ahead
# Westpac Australian Consumer Sentiment
# China Trade Balance
# U.S Federal Reserve FOMC Meeting Minutes
Cheers G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnights Points of Interest
2013 April 8 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# The Non-Farm Payrolls data out of the U.S sent stocks sharply lower Friday however by the end of stateside trading U.S. bourses had recovered reasonably strongly. The EuroStoxx600 fell a hefty 1.57% and the S&P500, after being down well over 1.0% closed down only 0.43%.
# The U.S payroll data was a mixed bag but the bones of the data were undeniably weak. A rather anaemic 88,000 new jobs were created against an expectation of near 200k. There were two positive data points: jobs gains for February were revised upward to 268,000 from an initial 236,000, and in January to 149,000 from an initial 119,000. However, the real kicker was the participation rate which fell to a 40-year low of 63.3 % last month, from 63.5 % the month before. The unemployment rate fell to 7.6 % from 7.7 %, but only because 496,000 Americans stopped looking for work. Total unemployment remains at about 3 million fewer jobs than at the pre-recession peak. The worry here is that if all the people that could work, returned to looking for work, the unemployment rate would be massively higher.
# The USD was a very mixed bag in the wake of the numbers, hit hard against GBP and EUR, but improving strongly against JPY whilst against the NZD and AUD it was largely unchanged. The AUD weakness, that I’ve been suspecting to arrive, was evident as NZD/AUD rose strongly over the week from 0.8020 to 0.8120 whilst against the EUR the AUD was smashed over the course of the week from 0.8180 to 0.7960.
# The JPY continued to be a major story with USD/JPY now up an incredible 600 points from Thursdays BOJ ‘shock and awe’ announcement. The JPY weakness promoted NZD/JPY to 5 year highs above 82.50.
# Best to worst performing currencies last week
CCY Mar29 Apr5 %Change
CHF 0.9494 0.9355 1.46%
EUR 1.2819 1.2994 1.37%
GBP 1.5191 1.5340 0.98%
NZD 0.8366 0.8432 0.79%
CAD 1.0173 1.0175 -0.02%
AUD 1.0416 1.0378 -0.36%
JPY 94.28 97.56 -3.48%
# Key commodities continued to perform poorly due to global growth concerns – with copper falling 0.46%. U.S. Crude fell 0.60% while Brent Crude fell 2.09% to 104.12 – its lowest daily close since July 24 last year. Gold managed to claw back almost all of the hefty losses incurred earlier in the week, as the promise of on-going Fed QE and the extremely aggressive BOJ QE brought Gold buyers back into the market. Gold stormed 1.85% higher to close at 1,581. Iron Ore was steady – rising 0.22% to 135.90.
# Peripheral debt yields in the Eurozone continued to calm and move lower, as the Cyprus contagion fears continued to fade and investor faith in the ECB to do what is needed encouraged buying of Italian and Spanish bonds. Analysts also noted that the very cheap money on offer from Japan and the US encouraged riskier bond buying. The 10-year Italian bond yield plunged to 4.38% from 4.56% at Thursday’s close – while the Spanish 10-year bond yield fell to 4.76% from 4.93% at Thursday’s close.
# S&P affirms UK AAA rating, outlook remains negative due to outlook for weaker economic
Ahead
http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php
Cheers G
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 March 25 by Graham
Good Monday morning
Overnight
# As offshore trading sessions progressed Friday the market moved ever more confidently towards pricing a positive resolution to the Cyprus drama. The EuroStoxx600 ended down a marginal 0.15% whilst stateside U.S bourses rose solidly, the S&P500 ending up 0.72%. For the week the EuroStoxx fell 1.14% whilst the S&P eased 0.24%.
# Mirroring the stock markets’ positive expectations for a Cyprus solution, two of the key ‘risk’ barometers for the Eurozone, Italian and Spanish bond yields fell. The Italian bond yield fell sharply to 4.51% from 4.64% whilst the 10-year Spanish bond yield eased to 4.86% from 4.89%. Amazingly Italian and Spanish bond yields are lower than they were before the Cyprus crisis started. (Is that confidence or perhaps blind faith that investors have in the ECB and its ability to manage a crisis?).
# U.S Treasury yields closed at 1.92% up slightly from Thursday’s close at 1.91% but well lower than last week’s 1.99% close.
# The German IFO Mar Business Climate fell to 106.7 vs 107.4, the first drop since October.
# GBP showed minimal reaction to news that ratings agency Fitch had placed the UK on ratings watch- negative, saying they are to complete review by end of April.
# The ‘Troika’, demanding more of Cyprus, increased the size of the contribution by Cyprus for the bailout package to EUR6.7 bln from the original EUR5.8 bln. In a reworked attempt at the bailout savings accounts of €100k or less will now be protected but over that benchmark will be subject to a whopping 20% levy.
#Best to worst performing currencies last week
CCY Mar15 Mar22 % change
JPY 95.25 94.53 0.76%
NZD 0.8290 0.8352 0.75%
GBP 1.5123 1.5230 0.71%
CHF 0.9468 0.9406 0.65%
AUD 1.0409 1.0443 0.33%
CAD 1.0205 1.0233 -0.27%
EUR 1.3075 1.2988 -0.67%
# The EUR was the centre of attention last week, as the Cyprus crisis dominated the headlines. It isn’t surprising the EUR ended the week as the worst performing currency, but it is a bit surprising it managed to hold up as well as it did. The JPY edged out the NZD as the best performing currency, as the first speech given by new BOJ chief Kuroda wasn’t as aggressively dovish as the market was expecting. The NZD made solid gains as stronger NZ growth data forced some paring back of long AUD/NZD positions.
# Copper rebounded 1.08%, Crude jumped 1.46% while unwinding of safe-haven strategies weighed on gold which eased to $1,608 from $1,615 at Thursday’s close. Iron Ore gained 0.43% to close at 134.89. For the week Copper fell 1.37%; U.S Crude gained 0.37%, Gold gained 1% and Iron Ore fell 0.29%.
Ahead
Regards G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 March 22 by Graham
Good Friday morning
Overnight
# Global bourses were in the red from the get go. European stocks fell victim to lousy Eurozone Manufacturing PMI’s whilst technology stocks led U.S bourses lower. The EuroStoxx600 ended down 0.68% and the S&P500 fell 0.83%.
# Manufacturing activity in the euro zone deteriorated to a three-month low in March, remaining in contraction territory for the 20th consecutive month. The index fell to 46.5 from 47.9 in Feb. The fall marked a quickening rate of contraction of business activity for the second consecutive month and showed the steepest fall in four.
# No surprise then that the EUR was the weakest performing G-10 currency whilst the NZD, in the wake of yesterday’s outstanding Q4 GDP print was the strongest. As a result the NZD/EUR cross roared from 0.6350 to 0.6470, a whopping move for sure. Interestingly the NZD and the AUD completely ignored the softer tone of the stock markets suggesting that the move was indeed all about the EUR cross.
# In a classic “buy the rumour, sell the fact” reaction USD/JPY fell hard after the market heard from new BOJ Gov. Kuroda. Following months of speculation that firstly new PM Abe would take power and then invest like-minded Kuroda as his BOJ head, where the USD/JPY had rallied from 78.00 to 96.00 in that period, it appears there was simply no gas left in the tank (market already heavily long) and profit taking liquidation set in. The USD/JPY fell from above 95.00 to below 94.00.
# Regarding N.Z.’s fine GDP number BNZ note this morning that “There was nothing weird in the Q4 GDP data, rather, growth surprised across a significant number of industries “(15 out of 16).
# U.S manufacturing data in comparison with the Eurozone was at the other end of the scale with solid numbers revealed. The U.S. March Markit PMI rose from 54.3 to 54.9 (54.8 expected) and the Philly Fed index soared from -12.5 to 2.0 (-3.0 expected). Importantly a print above 0 for this index shows a move to expansion. In the detail new orders rose to 0.5 from minus 7.8, while the gauge of the number of employees gained to 2.7 from 0.9.
# Still more good news emanating from U.S. housing with the U.S. Government Home Price Index rising for 12th straight month. The results were however below economists’ expectations. Those surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 0.9% monthly increase, but the gain is in line with the pace of increases in the prior three months.
# The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits edged higher last week, but a trend reading dropped to its lowest in five years and pointed to on-going healing in the labour market. Claims for state unemployment benefits rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000, which was less than analysts had expected. The four-week moving average for new claims, a measure of labour market trends, fell 7,500 to 339,750, the lowest level since February 2008.
# Crude oil fell on the weak Eurozone data. Crude oil for May delivery declined 1.2% or $1.05 to settle at $92.45 a barrel. Meanwhile Gold pushed on to the topside with the market looking for haven from the danger that Europe presents. The precious metal rose 0.5% to US$1614.00 an oz. (there has been a lot of press about the end of the Gold bull market in recent weeks and months which interests me from a contrarian perspective i.e. when they’re crying you should be buying).
Ahead
# NZ Visitor Arrivals
# Eurozone IFO Business Climate
# Blackcaps to win the toss and rip out of the guts of the English top order.
Have a good weekend all
Cheers G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Market Insight Newsletter – Vol. 2, Issue 36 Futures, FX, CFDs, Equities
2013 March 11 by Company
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Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities
Overnight Points of Interest
2013 March 8 by Graham
Good morning
Overnight
# Eurozone stocks erased early gains as an ECB downgrade for growth prospects weighed. The EuroStoxx 600 ended essentially flat, down 0.06%. Across the Atlantic U.S stocks had a particularly subdued session drifting in a tiny 0.25% range, currently up 0.17%. The blue chip Dow recorded yet another all-time high.
# The ECB left borrowing rates unchanged despite downgrading EuroZone growth prospects. The ECB now forecasts growth for the region to contract by 0.5% this year against a previous -0.3% whilst 2014 prospects were cut from 1.2% to 1.% expansion. Inflation, which the ECB is legislated to keep under 2%, was also forecast lower to 1.3% from 1.4% for 2014. The inflation outlook is broadly balanced, Draghi said, even though the risks to the economy are on the downside.
# In a rather perverse reaction the EUR/USD rallied the most in 8 weeks, rising from an intraday low yesterday of 1.2948 to 1.3118. That said, Spanish and Italian bond yields fell suggesting the market is feeling a little bit more confident with the situation in Europe.
# Similarly GBP/USD reversed some of its recent sharp losses after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee held its asset- purchase target at 375 billion pounds.
# USD/JPY screamed higher after Bank of Japan’s Masaaki Shirakawa’s final meeting amid speculation his successor will expand monetary stimulus and debase the currency. USD/JPY breached 95.00 for the first time since mid-2009.
# Another rosy piece of U.S labour market data as the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits declined to a six-week low. First-time U.S. jobless claims fell by 7,000 to 340,000 in the week ended March 2, the lowest since the period ended Jan 19, the Labor Department said. The median forecast of economists surveyed was for an increase to 355,000.
# Consumer credit in the U.S. rose in January by the most in five months as Americans took out loans for auto purchases and tuitions The $16.2 billion increase followed a revised $15.1 billion advance in December that was larger than initially reported. The median forecast of 27 economists surveyed called for a $14.7 billion gain in January. Non-revolving debt, which includes financing for auto purchases and college, climbed $16 billion.
# Ford Motor Co. had its best February sales in six years, with deliveries up 9.3 %, while General Motors Co. posted a 7.2 % increase as the recovery in home prices boosts confidence. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the average age of cars and light trucks has reached a record high, according to data compiled by Polk, an auto industry information provider, which may be prompting consumers to replace their vehicles. Clearly Americans must have hunkered down amidst the GFC downturn.
# Net worth for households and non-profit groups increased by $1.17 trillion from October through December, or 1.8% from the previous three months, to $66.1 trillion, the Federal Reserve said today from Washington in its flow of funds report. Household wealth is approaching its pre-recession level, helping to limit the impact from higher fuel costs and payroll taxes.
# Crude rose on the better U.S. data with the optimism pushing the black gold 1.3% higher. Crude oil for April delivery rose $1.13 to settle at $91.56 a barrel
Ahead
# U.S Bank Stress Test Results
# N.Z Manufacturing Sales
# Japan Current Account
# China Trade Balance
# BOJ Monthly Report
# German Industrial Production
# U.S Non-Farm Payrolls
# China Inflation, PPI, Industrial Production and Retail Sales
Cheers G.
Edge Capital Markets Limited, a specialist advisor in Futures – FX – CFD – Options – Shares – Gold – Silver – Commodities