ASIA:

Haruhiko Kuroda, the BoJ’s longest-serving governor who will step down in April, last week defied market pressure and kept the key pillars of his monetary easing program unchanged, stressing that wage growth was not sufficient despite the global inflation shock. Suntory Holdings, the drinks group behind Jim Beam and Yamazaki, aims to raise wages in Japan by 6 percent. Eye drops-maker Rohto will revise the seniority-based component of its pay structure for the first time in 22 years, resulting in an average 7 percent hike for employees in 2022.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 19.81 points or 0.07% to 27,382.56
• Shanghai closed
• Hang Seng increased 122.12 points or 0.54% to 22,688.90
• ASX 200 increased 25.50 points or 0.34% to 7,493.80
• Kospi increased 15.37 points or 0.62% to 2,484.02
• SENSEX decreased 874.16 points or -1.45% to 59,330.90
• Nifty50 decreased 287.60 points or -1.61% to 17,604.35

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.00083 or -0.12% to 0.71057
• NZDUSD decreased 0.00027 or -0.04% to 0.64843
• USDJPY decreased 0.317 or -0.24% to 129.893
• USDCNY increased 0.03206 or 0.48% to 6.76656

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 1.18 USD/t oz. or 0.06% to 1,930.17
• Silver decreased 0.367 USD/t. oz or -1.54% to 23.526

Some economic news from last night:

Japan：

Tokyo Core CPI (YoY) (Jan) increased from 4.0% to 4.3%

CPI Tokyo Ex Food and Energy (MoM) (Jan) remain the same at 0.1%

Australia:

PPI (QoQ) (Q4) decreased from 1.9% to 0.7%

PPI (YoY) (Q4) decreased from 6.4% to 5.8%

New Zealand:

ANZ Business Confidence (Jan) increased from -70.2 to -52.0

Some economic news from today:

India:

Bank Loan Growth increased from 14.9% to 16.5%

Deposit Growth increased from 9.2% to 10.6%

FX Reserves, USD increased from 572.00B to 573.73B

EUROPE/EMEA:

The Bank of England looks more likely to follow the European Central Bank than the Federal Reserve next Thursday, and we expect a 50-basis point rate hike for the second consecutive meeting. While the minutes of the December meeting appeared to open the door to a potential downshift to a 25bp move in February – and this meeting looks like a closer call than markets are pricing – the reality is that the recent data has looked relatively hawkish. We expect one final 25bp hike in March, taking the Bank Rate to a peak of 4.25%. The key question for Thursday is whether the Bank itself acknowledges its work is nearly complete. We suspect it’s more likely to keep its options open.

The major Europe stock markets had a green day:

• CAC 40 increased 1.22 points or 0.02% to 7,097.21
• FTSE 100 increased 4.04 points or 0.05% to 7,765.15
• DAX 30 increased 17.18 points or 0.11% to 15,150.03

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD decreased 0.00307 or -0.28% to 1.08583
• GBPUSD decreased 0.00285 or -0.23% to 1.23775
• USDCHF increased 0.00151 or 0.16% to 0.92171

Some economic news from Europe today:

Spain:

Spanish GDP (QoQ) (Q4) remain the same at 0.2%

Euro Zone:

M3 Money Supply (YoY) (Dec) decreased from 4.8% to 4.1%

US/AMERICAS:

Inflation is waning but American consumers are spending less, according to a report released by the Commerce Department this Friday. Personal consumption expenditures, minus food and energy, rose 4.4% on an annual basis. December’s reading is lower than November’s 4.7% figure and marks the slowest annual increase since October 2021. Headline inflation increased 5% on an annual basis and 0.1% on a monthly basis. Personal income rose 0.2% for the month, but consumers are less likely to spend as real consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, declined by 0.3%.

US Market Closings:

• Dow advanced 28.67 points or 0.08% to 33,978.08
• S&P 500 advanced 10.13 points or 0.25% to 4,070.56
• Nasdaq advanced 109.3 points or 0.95% to 11,621.71
• Russell 2000 advanced 8.39 points or 0.44% to 1,911.46

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite advanced 13.98 points or 0.07% to 20,714.48
• TSX 60 advanced 0.59 of a point or 0.05% to 1,247.6

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 1,861.39 points or -1.63% to 112,316.16

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a negative day today:

• Crude Oil decreased 1.284 USD/BBL or -1.58% to 79.727
• Brent decreased 0.845 USD/BBL or -0.97% to 86.625
• Natural gas decreased 0.0529 USD/MMBtu or -1.86% to 2.7951
• Gasoline decreased 0.0223 USD/GAL or -0.85% to 2.5898
• Heating oil decreased 0.1179 USD/GAL or -3.47% to 3.2786

The above data was collected around 12:12 EST on Friday

• Top commodity gainers: Lumber (7.37%), Sugar (1.40%), Palm Oil (3.20%) and Coffee (1.47%)
• Top commodity losers: Natural Gas (-1.86%), Palladium (-3.88%), Heating Oil (-3.47%) and Cheese (-4.40%)

The above data was collected around 12:19 EST Friday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.485% (+2.5bp), US 2’s 4.21% (+0.033%), US 10’s 3.533% (+4.2bps); US 30’s 3.65% (+0.021%), Bunds 2.24% (+2.6bp), France 2.703% (+2.9bp), Italy 4.23% (+6bp), Turkey 10.23% (+11bp), Greece 4.266% (+5bp), Portugal 3.164% (+6.1bp); Spain 3.27% (+4.9bp) and UK Gilts 3.332% (+1.4bp).

More By This Author:

Market Talk - Thursday Jan. 26
Market Talk - Tuesday, Jan. 24
Market Talk - Monday, Jan. 23