Market Talk – May 17, 2022

ASIA:

The 2022 Asian Para Games that were scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) and the Games’ organizing committee (HAPGOC) said on Tuesday. A taskforce formed by the two committees and the Chinese Paralympic Committee will work on rescheduling the Games — originally set for Oct. 9-15 — for 2023.

The Reserve Bank of India sold a net $20.1 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in the month of March to support the rupee against the U.S. dollar, its monthly bulletin showed on Tuesday. The central bank said its net outstanding forward dollar purchases rose to $65.79 billion at the end of March compared to $49.11 billion as of end February. In February, the RBI had sold a net $771 million in the spot market. The rupee moved in a band of 75.76 to 76.97 in the month of March.

The major Asian stock markets had a green day today:

  • NIKKEI 225 increased 112.70 points or 0.42% to 26,659.75
  • Shanghai increased 19.95 points or 0.65% to 3,093.70
  • Hang Seng increased 652.31 points or 3.27% to 20,602.52
  • ASX 200 increased 19.50 points or 0.27% to 7,112.50
  • Kospi increased 23.86 points or 0.92% to 2,620.44
  • SENSEX increased 1,344.63 points or 2.54% to 54,318.47
  • Nifty50 increased 417.00 points or 2.63% to 16,259.30

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

  • AUDUSD increased 0.00381 or 0.55% to 0.70086
  • NZDUSD increased 0.00398 or 0.63% to 0.63486
  • USDJPY increased 0.447 or 0.35% to 129.322
  • USDCNY decreased 0.05191 or -0.76% to 6.74670

Precious Metals:

  • Gold decreased 4.32 USD/t oz. or -0.24% to 1,819.47
  • Silver increased 0.103 USD/t. oz or 0.47% to 21.702

Some economic news from last night:

New Zealand:

RBNZ Offshore Holdings (Apr) decreased from 53.70% to 53.50%

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Singapore:

Non-Oil Exports (MoM) (Apr) decreased from -2.30% to -3.30%

Non-Oil Exports (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 7.70% to 6.40%

Trade Balance increased from 4.191B to 4.280B

Some economic news from today

Japan:

Tertiary Industry Activity Index (MoM) increased from -1.8% to 1.3%

India:

WPI Food (YoY) (Apr) increased from 8.06% to 8.35%

WPI Fuel (YoY) (Apr) increased from 34.52% to 38.66%

WPI Inflation (YoY) (Apr) increased from 14.55% to 15.08%

WPI Manufacturing Inflation (YoY) (Apr) increased from 10.71% to 10.85%

New Zealand:

GlobalDairyTrade Price Index increased from -8.5% to -2.9%

EUROPE/EMEA:

The cost-of-living squeeze in Britain has led to two in three people in the country turning off their heating, almost half are driving less or changing supermarkets and just over a quarter say they have skipped meals, a survey showed. Concern about inflation is at a 30-year high and most Britons expect to see increases in the costs of essentials over the next six months, it said. Data on Wednesday is expected to show consumer price inflation hit 9.1% in April, according to economists polled by Reuters, and the Bank of England thinks it could exceed 10% later this year.

Russia’s largest lender Sberbank, which has been hit by Western sanctions, plans to drop its listing in London after its depositary terminated an agreement with it, the bank said on Tuesday. Holders of Sberbank’s depositary receipts can exchange them for Sberbank’s shares by June 16, the bank said in a statement, adding that it notified the London Stock Exchange of its intention to terminate the circulation of the receipts.

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

  • CAC 40 increased 82.42 points or 1.30% to 6,430.19
  • FTSE 100 increased 53.55 points or 0.72% to 7,518.35
  • DAX 30 increased 221.56 points or 1.59% to 14,185.94

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

  • EURUSD increased 0.01106 or 1.06% to 1.05485
  • GBPUSD increased 0.01586 or 1.29% to 1.24825
  • USDCHF decreased 0.00955 or -0.95% to 0.99231
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Some economic news from Europe today:

France:

French Unemployment Rate (Q1) decreased from 7.4% to 7.3%

UK:

Average Earnings ex Bonus (Mar) increased from 4.1% to 4.2%

Average Earnings Index +Bonus (Mar) increased from 5.6% to 7.0%

Claimant Count Change (Apr) increased from -81.6K to -56.9K

Employment Change 3M/3M (MoM) (Mar) increased from 10K to 83K

Labour Productivity decreased from 0.7% to -0.7%

Unemployment Rate (Mar) decreased from 3.8% to 3.7%

Italy:

Italian Trade Balance (Mar) increased from -1.766B to -0.084B

Italian Trade Balance EU (Mar) increased from -0.22B to 0.42B

Italian CPI (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 6.5% to 6.0%

Italian CPI (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 1.0% to -0.1%

Italian CPI Ex Tobacco (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 6.4% to 5.8%

Italian HICP (YoY) (Apr) decreased from 6.8% to 6.3%

Italian HICP (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 2.4% to 0.4%

Spain:

Spanish Trade Balance decreased from -4.30B to -4.60B

Euro Zone:

Employment Change (QoQ) increased from 0.4% to 0.5%

Employment Change (YoY) increased from 2.1% to 2.6%

Employment Overall (Q1) increased from 161,798.7K to 162,550.5K

GDP (QoQ) (Q1) increased from 0.2% to 0.3%

GDP (YoY) (Q1) increased from 5.0% to 5.1%

US/AMERICAS:

The Commerce Department reported on Tuesday at sales in the US rose 0.9% in April. The figure is not adjusted for inflation and experts warn consumers are dipping into savings to cover the increased costs. March’s figure was revised significantly from 0.5% to 1.4%. Annually, sales in April rose 8.2%, and 10.2% excluding autos. Miscellaneous retail purchases saw a 4% increase and online sales rose 2%. With the absence of COVID restrictions, restaurant spending increased 19.8% from last year. Amid the energy crisis, gasoline sales spiked 36.9% over the past year.

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Industrial production in the US rose 1.1% this April, posting the fourth consecutive month of gains. Manufacturing increased 0.8%. The utilities index is up 2.4%, and the advanced mining index rose 1.6%. Total industrial production in April rose 6.4% YoY, while capacity utilization soared 79%.

US Market Closings:

  • Dow advanced 43.17 points or 1.34% to 32,654.59
  • S&P 500 advanced 80.84 points or 2.02% to 4,088.85
  • Nasdaq advanced 321.73 points or 2.76% to 11,984.52
  • Russell 2000 56.87 points or 3.19% to 1,840.3

Canada Market Closings:

  • TSX Composite advanced 284.6 points or 1.41% to 20,491.01
  • TSX 60 advanced 15.03 points or 1.23% to 1,240.87

Brazil Market Closing:

  • Bovespa advanced 556.59 points or 0.51% to 108,789.33

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a mixed day today:

  • Crude Oil decreased 0.47 USD/BBL or -0.41% to 113.7200
  • Brent decreased 0.4 USD/BBL or -0.35% to 113.84
  • Natural gas increased 0.259 USD/MMBtu or 3.26% to 8.2150
  • Gasoline decreased 0.0044 USD/GAL or -0.11% to 4.0185
  • Heating oil decreased 0.0439 USD/GAL or -1.12% to 3.8636

The above data was collected around 12:31 EST on Tuesday

  • Top commodity gainers: Natural Gas (3.26%) and Coal (2.86%), Bitumen (2.88%), Zinc (2.92%)
  • Top commodity losers: Steel (-2.95%), Palm Oil (-3.97%), Cotton (-1.19%) and Methanol (-7.39%)

The above data was collected around 12:45 EST on Tuesday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.247%(+0.2bp), US 2’s 2.68% (+0.108%), US 10’s 2.9769% (+9.11bps); US 30’s 3.17% (+0.062%), Bunds 1.047% (+11bp), France 1.548% (+9.8bp), Italy 2.967% (+12.7bp), Turkey 23.68% (+72bp), Greece 3.572% (+1.1bp), Portugal 2.193% (+12.8bp); Spain 2.132% (+12.7bp) and UK Gilts 1.8950% (+16.4bp).

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