Very Quiet Start to Week with U.S. and U.K. Shut for Holidays – Currency Thoughts
Very Quiet Start to Week with U.S. and U.K. Shut for Holidays
May 27, 2024
Americans are observing their Memorial Day holiday, while British markets are shut for the late spring bank holiday.
Minimal data have been released elsewhere.
The dollar edged 0.1% lower overnight against the euro, yen, loonie, Swiss franc, sterling and as measured by the DXY weighted index.
Ten-year sovereign debt yields are three basis points lower in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, two bps lower in Germany, but up two basis points and above the psychological 1.0% level at 1.02% in Japan. Deputy Bank of Japan Governor Uchida spoke hopefully about deflationary tendencies finally fading, but Governor Ueda cautioned that rate normalization must proceed very gradually.
Share prices advanced this Monday by 1.3% in South Korea, 1.2% in Hong Kong, 1.1% in China and Taiwan, and 0.7% in Japan. Among open European markets, equity rises have been only marginal.
Prices for both oil and gold have risen about 0.5%.
Despite a lower-than-forecast score for Germany’s business climate index compiled monthly by the IFO Institute, May’s unchanged reading of 89.3 matched April’s 10-month high and embodied an 11-month high in business expectations. Three of the four major sectoral sub-indices improved (manufacturing to a one-year high, trade to a 13-month high, and construction to a 10-month high), while services slipped to a 2-month low but was at least still above zero for a third straight month. In describing the latest findings, IFO officials summarized that Germany’s “economy is working its way out of the crisis step by step.” Perceived current conditions, however, fell back 0.6 points to a 2-month low.
Corporate profits in China during the first four months of 2024 were 4.3% higher than a year earlier, down from an initial 10.2% on-year jump in January-February but above the calendar year declines of 2.3% in 2023 and 4.0% in 2022.
Hong Kong’s trade deficit of HKD 94 billion in the first third of 2024 was narrower than the January-April deficits of HKD 148 billion and HKD 99 billion in 2023 and 2022.
Japan’s indices of leading and coincident economic indicators for March both got revised slightly higher to 21- and 3-month highs, respectively.
Icelandic producer price inflation of +1.0% in April broke a year and a half streak of sub-zero readings including -3.7% in March.
Finnish consumer confidence was less negative in May at -10.3, but Finnish business confidence fell by four index points to -13.
Turkish business confidence printed at a 2-month low in May.
Copyright 2024, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: Bank of Japan Governor Ueda, German business climate index
Source link
