New Overnight Developments Abroad: Easter Monday
April 13, 2009
Don’t expect much today as many markets remain shut for Easter Monday, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand Argentina, and most of both Western and Eastern Europe. Markets that will be open include the United States, Russia, Japan, China, and Mexico.
The Nikkei dipped 0.4%, but most open Asian bourses closed higher, some substantially so like China (2.4%), Pakiston (3.4%), Indonesia (5.1%), Singapore (2.6%) and Taiwan (1.3%). Investors will be watching U.S. bank shares carefully to see if Thursday’s Wells Fargo-charged rally is sustained. Many other U.S. money center banks report earnings this week.
Oil relinquished 2.4% to $50.97 per barrel after advancing 5.8% last Thursday. IEA revised its estimated drop in world oil demand this year to a larger drop of 2.4 million barrels per day, a five-year low. Gold firmed 0.8% to $888.30 per ounce.
The ten-year JGB yield firmed 1.5 basis points to 1.465%.
The dollar and yen are marginally weaker. The greenback has eased 0.5% against the Australian dollar, 0.3% versus sterling and the kiwi, 0.2% against the Swiss franc, and 0.1% relative to the Canadian dollar and euro, but the buck is 0.3% firmer against the yen and remains above the Y 100 level.
Japanese domestic corporate goods prices fell 2.2% in the year to March, their largest on-year decline since May 2002. The CGPI slid 0.2% from February.
China’s property index sagged somewhat further to 94.74 in March from 94.86 in February, 96.46 in December and 101.15 last September.
China posted a 61.5 billion yuan budget deficit in March as public spending soared 31.4% on year, while revenues slid 0.3%. A key advisor to China’s central bank made some pessimistic comments about domestic and world economic prospects.
Canada unexpectedly recorded a budget surplus in February of C$ 126 million, neutralizing January’s deficit.
The German cabinet has drafted a plan to buy some bad bank assets. A story in the New York Times claims General Motors is being pressured to file bankruptcy papers around June 1st.
No U.S. data releases are scheduled today, but the Bank of Canada releases a business survey.
Copyright 2009 Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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