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- Varchev Finance: Trading day in one post – 14.12.2017
Varchev Finance: Trading day in one post - 14.12.2017
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Loading...Asian stock market: Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the third time this year. The Nikkei 225 erased early gains to slide 0.14 percent. Automakers were mostly lower, as were most blue-chip tech names, with SoftBank Group losing 2.75 percent. Energy-related names were mixed. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi rose 0.7 percent, with so-called "THAAD-related stocks" contributing to gains. Those stocks include retailers and consumer names that tend to get hit when tensions flare up between China and South Korea over Seoul's deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. Lotte Shopping extended overnight gains to climb 1 percent, and LG Household gained 1.86 percent. Those moves came as South Korean President Moon Jae-in continued with his four-day visit to China. Business executives from major Korean corporations, including Hyundai and LG, are also taking part in the bilateral meeting. Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 edged up by 0.15 percent, with energy and resource stocks leading gains on the broader index. Miners edged higher, with BHP tacking on 0.61 percent and Fortescue Metals gaining 0.21 percent. Heavily-weighted bank stocks were little changed. The Hang Seng Index was mostly flat, slipping 0.04 percent, as gains in tech and most property names were offset by losses seen in banking stocks.
Currency market: The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after falling 0.7% on Wednesday. The yen fell 0.1% to 112.64 per dollar after jumping 0.9%. The euro was steady at $1.1834. The Aussie dollar rose 0.4% to 76.64 U.S. cents. Australian dollar got a boost following the release of expectation-topping employment data. The Aussie dollar traded at $0.7674 at 10:18 a.m. HK/SIN, touching its highest levels in more than a month. The pound was little changed at $1.3435. The dollar nursed its losses in early Asian trade on Thursday, having tumbled after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in a widely expected move, but left its rate outlook for the coming years unchanged. The Fed projected three more hikes in both 2018 and 2019 before a long-run level of 2.8 percent is reached. That is unchanged from the last round of forecasts in September. Fed officials acknowledged in their latest forecasts that the economy had gained momentum in 2017 by raising their economic growth forecasts and lowering the expected unemployment rate for the coming years. Traders and analysts said the dollar came under pressure after the Fed's policy announcement as the Fed kept its interest rate projections steady rather than revising them higher. Some market participants had been speculating that the Fed could raise its interest rate projection for next year to four rate hikes, said Stephen Innes, head of trading in Asia-Pacific for Oanda in Singapore.
Commodity market: WTI crude rose 0.3% to $56.77 a barrel. Oil markets rose on Thursday, lifted by a fourth straight weekly fall in U.S. crude inventories, though climbing output capped prices well below the 2015 highs reached earlier this week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $56.77 a barrel at 00344 GMT, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $62.81 a barrel, up 37 cents, or 0.6 percent from their last close. U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 5.1 million barrels in the week to Dec. 8, the fourth consecutive week of declines, to 442.99 million barrels, the lowest since October, 2015. Despite the rise, Brent was well below the $65.83 a barrel June, 2015 high reached earlier this week. It hit that level after the Forties pipeline in the North Sea, which carries significant amounts of crude used to underpin Brent crude futures, was shut down due to cracks. Gold rose 0.1% to $1,256.27 an ounce, mostly on the dollar weakness.
European stock market: Today, investors will remain cautious at the beginning of the session, with major stock indices open without much change. The German DAX will start with 13 points profit of 13,085. The French CAC is 4 points up to 5,388; while the UKX remains unchanged. In the so-called "super Thursday" market participants will keep track of a bunch of economic news and events that will not only determine market movements during the day, and will probably also tune to the end of the week. At 10:30 we expect the production PMI data in Germany. The world's fourth-largest economy is highly production-oriented, so these news can affect the short-term trend of DAX. In the UK today, the central bank is expected to talk about its monetary policy and interest rates in the country. Investors do not expect the basic interest rate to be changed, but the future interest rate forecast may have an impact on the market. Also, Brexit's data is expected, namely, the progress that Theresa May has achieved in the separation negotiations. At 14:45, we also expect the decision on interest rates from the European Central Bank. Here, too, the forecasts are that there will be no change, but the start of the exit from quantitative easing can play an important role in the future of interest rates and short-term volatility in indices.
U.S. stock market: U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve felt confident enough in the economy to raise rates yet again. Investors also digested news of Congressional leaders reaching a tentative agreement on a tax overhaul plan. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 144 points to reach a record high, with Caterpillar leading advancers. The S&P 500 gained 0.25 percent and hit an all-time high. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.4 percent. The move by the Fed lifts the target range to 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent. The Fed was widely expected to raise rates at this meeting. The central bank also raised its 2018 GDP estimate to 2.5 percent from 2.1 percent in September.
Economic calendar for the European and U.S. trading sessions:
10:30 Switzerland - SNB Interest Rate Decision
10:30 Germany - Manufacturing PMI
11:00 Switzerland - SNB Press Conference
11:00 Europe - Manufacturing PMI
11:30 UK - Retail Sales
14:00 UK - BoE Interest Rate Decision
14:45 Europe - ECB Interest Rate Decision
15:30 USA - Retail Sales
15:30 Europe - ECB Press Conference
16:45 USA - Manufacturing PMI
17:00 USA - Business Inventories
19:25 Canada - BoC Gov Poloz Speaks
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