Equities in Asia, as well as US and European equity futures, had a "wobbly" Asian session following a US session where equities posted modest gains. The move points to continued caution ahead of Jackson Hole tomorrow, with US rate-cut bets building up this week. Risk-taking may be capped today due to concerns that there could be disappointing news from the Fed—despite dovish signals from the Fed minutes yesterday.
There were some better-than-expected results for Xiaomi Corp., which led to an 8% bounce in its stock price, supporting a gauge of Chinese tech stocks. However, this followed a slew of mixed earnings from heavyweights, which seems to be preventing a lot of confidence from returning. There is also news of a likely revision to US job growth data—the number of workers on payrolls will probably be revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months through March (~68,000 less per month). This is the largest downward revision since 2009 and provides further evidence for traders to expect a September rate cut, with the futures curve now pricing in just over 100 bps by the end of the year.
WTI fell to $71.84/barrel, and gold fell to $2,503.40/oz after hitting all-time highs yesterday.
On the data front today, we have:
**For professional investors only** Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained in this blog is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute (and should not be construed as containing) investment advice or an investment recommendation, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. Some of this information may have been provided by third-party sources and, although believed to be reliable, it has not been independently verified and its accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed. No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made or given by or on behalf of iSAM Securities or its directors or any other person as to the accuracy, completeness or fairness of the information or opinions contained in this blog, and no responsibility or liability is accepted for any such information. As a result, any person acting on any information does so entirely at their own risk. iSAM Securities will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.