Market Brief
The Nikkei finished the session on the rise as sentiment improved (Consumer sentiment at a 5-month high of 29.6 (prev. 27.6) but slightly lower than expectations at 30. This comes as god news amidst the current climate in Japan – with exports thinning and domestic demand on the decline the government announced a $154Bn stimulus plan that still has to defined and explained. That said, analysts expect the plan to boost GDP for FY 2009 by 1.5 – 2.0%. The USDJPY continues it’s decline, trading sub 100.00 at 99.26 at time of writing. Despite recent Yen strength in the face of the dollar the general trend still points to further Yen weakness – which is important the Nippon economy as exports are such a big share of GDP.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet spoke in Japan overnight in-front of students re-iterated that no “non-standard” monetary policy measures will be made before the next ECB meeting on the 7th of May and that he refused to fuel speculation on the matter. He did say that further Refi-rate cuts were not to be discounted. The Euro suffered as a consequence, dropping to 1-month lows against the USD.
U.S Jobless claims came out better than expected at -610K but still show the dire situation in the job-market while the Philly Fed business activity index was far better than expected. Dallas Fed Chairman Fisher spoke in China, saying the dollar had benefitted from the Fed’s actions to date and that the EU would face even bigger challenges.
Gold continues to drop as risk sentiment improves, trading down almost $20/oz to $873.71 (at time of writing) to levels not seen since a week ago.
| Global Indexes | Current Level | % Change |
| Nikkei 225 Index | 8907.58 | + 1.74 |
| Hang Seng Index | 15805.01 | + 1.43 |
| Shanghai Index | 2526.075 | - 0.32 |
| DAX Index | 4609.46 | + 1.31 |
| FTSE 100 Index | 4052.98 | + 2.13 |
| DJIA futures | 8026 | - 0.46 |
| Nasdaq futures | 1343.75 | - 0.61 |
| World Markets | Current Level | % Change |
| Gold | 874.32 | - 0.16 |
| Silver | 121.19 | - 0.41 |
| VIX | 35.79 | - 1.05 |
| Crude wti | 49.67 | - 0.62 |
| USD Index | 85.73 | + 0.60 |
| Todays Calender | Estimates | Previous | Country / GMT |
| Euro Zone Trade balance | -5.0B | -10.5B | EUR / 09:00 |
| Consumer Price Index | 1.4% | 1.4% | CAD / 11:00 |
| U. of Michigan Confidence | 58.2 | 57.3 | USD / 14:00 |
| Chairman Bernanke Speaks in Washington | - | - | USD / 16:00 |
Currency Tech
AUDUSD
R 3: 0.7817
R 2: 0.7738
R 1: 0.7355
CURRENT: 0.7212
S 1: 0.7149
S 2: 0.7034
S 3: 0.6976
EURJPY
R 3: 137.41
R 2: 135.57
R 1: 134.33
CURRENT: 129.84
S 1: 129.39
S 2: 128.24
S 3: 126.42
USDSGD
R 3: 1.5361
R 2: 1.5258
R 1: 1.5188
CURRENT: 1.5017
S 1: 1.4904
S 2: 1.4805
S 3: 1.4706
- S: Strong, M: Minor, T: Trendline, K: Keylevel, P: Pivot
