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Ipek Ozkardeskaya Swissquote Bank Ltd

Stocks in Asia fell this Monday on news that China reported its first death in six months from Covid on Sunday, and two other deaths followed. The news spurred fear that the government could make a U-turn on its decision of easing the strict Covid zero rules, and wreak havoc in Chinese markets, yet again.

Elsewhere, the US-inflation-data boosted rally faded last week, on the back of a too-strong-to-be-happy retail sales print, and a couple of hawkish comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) Presidents, including a chart from Mr. Bullard where the Fed’s terminal rate stretched up to 7%! This week, investors will focus on interest rate hikes and the US Black Friday sales.

In commodities, the barrel of US crude slipped below the $80 psychological level last week, below the post-pandemic ascending trend base.

In the FX, the US dollar kicks off the week on a positive footage, on the back of a retreat in dovish Fed expectations.

In cryptocurrencies, contagion news from the FTX collapse continues making the headlines in cryptocurrencies. According to the latest news, FTX owes more than $3 billion to its unsecured creditors, and crypto.com, Binance and OKX suspended deposits of dollar-backed stablecoins, USDC and Tether before last weekend.

In sports, the world’s most expensive World Cup kicked off this weekend in the middle of the Qatari desert, with a lot of unusual news, speculation and backlash about the CO2 emissions and limited sales of alcohol, among other criticism. Investors hope sports betting and beverage companies would see a boost from the event.

Author

Ipek Ozkardeskaya

Swissquote Bank Ltd

Ipek Ozkardeskaya began her financial career in 2010 in the structured products desk of the Swiss Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. She worked in HSBC Private Bank in Geneva in relation to high and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

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