Trade overview: current reports, trends, indices, stock prices, bonds, foreign exchange and commodities and analyst recommendations
07:50
Asian stock markets are running in a mixed trend. The Japanese Nikkei index is down 0.5%, and in Australia, Taiwan and South Korea the indices are down more than 1%. On the other hand, the Hang Seng index is stable with a slight upward trend and in Shanghai and Shenzhen the indexes are up by 0.6% to 0.9%.
At the head of the Nikkei index is the oil giant Infix with an increase of 2.9%, despite the drop in oil prices (see below). In Hong Kong, real estate company Country Garden stands out, advancing 4.8%, while Xiaomi loses 3.2% in the second-highest trading cycle on the Hang Seng.
The Central Bank of China tonight lowered the one-year lending rate by 5 basis points to 3.65% (the forecast was for a 10-point drop) and the five-year interest rate was cut by 15 basis points to 4.3%. At 11:30 Israel time, the consumer price index will be published in Hong Kong, where inflation is expected to reach an annual rate of 2% after an increase of 1.8% last month.
Wall Street futures are retreating this morning by 0.3%-0.5% after the recent weeks’ rally ended, and the US stock market ended last week in the red. On Friday, the S&P 500 index closed down 1.3%, the Dow Jones index fell by 0.9%, and the Nasdaq fell by 2%.
Investors await the Federal Reserve’s annual economic conference in Jackson Hole starting Thursday, where Governor Jerome Powell will speak. Also, on Friday, the price index of private spending – the inflation index preferred by the Fed – will be published.
The report season for public companies in the US is coming to an end. Tonight Palo Alto and the video calling company Zoom will report, and later this week the results of Macys, Nvidia, Salesforce, Gap, Pluto, Dell and Marvel will also be published, among others.
Crude oil prices are down 1.2% to 1.4%. The price of Brent oil retreated to $95.3 per barrel and US oil fell to $89.6 per barrel. This is a monthly decrease of 5% and 7.3% respectively.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are up slightly this morning, after plunging over the past few trading days and completing weekly declines of 13.6% and 19.5% respectively. Bitcoin is trading around $21.4 thousand and Ethereum for $1,600.