from Challenger Gray and Christmas The third quarter ended with a surge in job cuts, as U.S.- based employers announced plans to shed 58,877 in September, a 43 percent increase from the previous month. The September total was third largest of the year behind July (105,696) and April (61,582). It was 93 percent higher than…
And it was going so well overnight: with the USD/JPY surging as high as 120.25 overnight, before finding its prefered equilibrium spot at 120, the Yen carry was doing its centrally-planned and mandated job of supporting market… and then a Bloomberg headline yanked the carpet from underneath it: BOJ IS SAID TO SEE LITTLE IMMEDIATE…
OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ15 +0.29%) are up +0.65% and European stocks are up +0.59% at a 1-week high on signs of stabilization in Chinese manufacturing activity that pushed up the price of oil (CLX15 +2.24%) by +2.42% and fueled a rally in energy and basic-resource companies. Copper prices (HGZ15 +0.26%) also climbed +0.56% to…
Metal ETFs were clearly out of investors favor for much of 2014 and have been unloved so far this year. The combination of a stronger greenback, a slumping China, the oil price rout and the adverse demand-supply imbalance have put a hold over several industrial metals in recent times. Since the Chinese economy accounts…
Markets around the world have seen value boiling off as investors nervous about the slowing of the Chinese economy (which is still enjoying what any other nation would regard as phenomenal growth) sell stocks. The selling of stocks causes prices to fall unless there are other investors snapping them up. A Bear Run is always…
Markets around the world have seen value boiling off as investors nervous about the slowing of the Chinese economy (which is still enjoying what any other nation would regard as phenomenal growth) sell stocks. The selling of stocks causes prices to fall unless there are other investors snapping them up. A Bear Run is always…
The bad economic news started with Japan’s Large Manufacturing Tankan missing expectations of +13, printing at +12 while, as Goldman summarized, “outlook DIs show across-the-board deterioration in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries” once again bringing up the question whether the BOJ will boost QE later this month. Then it was China’s official and Caixin PMIs…
September was another rough month for most of the major asset classes. The main exception: US real estate investment trusts (REITs), which popped 3.0% last month (MSCI REIT Index). The safe haven of fixed income also provided some relief. Investment-grade bonds in the US and in foreign developed markets inched higher as renewed concerns about…
The US dollar begins the fourth quarter on a mixed note. The dollar-bloc currencies are trading higher, helped by stabilizing commodity prices and the slightly better than expected Chinese manufacturing PMI (49.8 vs 49.6 expected after 49.7 in August). Australia’s manufacturing PMI also ticked up to 52.1 from 51.7. Sentiment toward the dollar-bloc has improved. Technically,…
Gold prices ended the month down roughly 1.8% at approximately $1115 an ounce, pressured by a firmer dollar and weak demand. The market started the week on the back foot but with the help of the support around the $1103 level, the market rallied all the way to the $1155 area. However, the bulls gave…
