After Friday closed with gains in Wall Street, Asian Stocks also delivered. Japanese Nikkei is trading 7% higher on the day after a week of steep losses. USDJPY which in directly correlated to stock sentiment is also following suit by having gained more than 0.8%. The drop in China's Shanghai Composite index was largely ignored by the FX markets since it was largely due to trader's pricing-in last week's risk aversion.
Market optimism improved after a better-than-feared US retail sales report, which showed that despite financial market jitters the US consumer is still willing to spend his savings. Retail sales rose 0.2% m/m and, accounting for lower gasoline prices, growth was an impressive 0.4%.
Gold, which is inversely correlated to stocks, suffered steep losses down to $1213 from $1235 where the market opened today, and from $1263 high last week. OIL also rallied 9% since Friday in a much needed relief rally which was sparked by hopes that OPEC members will cut production.
The US is celebrating a holiday today so there is no major news. Some highlights for the week are:
