ASIA:

China “firmly” opposes a new trade initiative between Taiwan and the United States, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, a plan the government in Taipei says is a recognition of the key position the island plays in global supply chains. The United States and Taiwan announced the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade on Wednesday, days after the Biden administration excluded the Chinese-claimed island from its Asia-focused economic plan designed to counter Beijing’s growing influence. Taiwan has been cheered by the initiative, seeing it as another sign of support from Washington, and hopes it could pave the way for Taiwan to eventually join Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), launched last week.

India has exported around 8.5 million tonnes of sugar since the current season began on Oct. 1, with exporters likely to contract another 1.5 million tonnes for overseas sales in the next five months, Reuters reported. India, the world’s biggest sugar producer and consumer, on May 24 imposed restrictions on exports of the sweetener for the first time in six years by capping exports at 10 million tonnes. The government also asked exporters to seek export permits, or authorization, for any overseas shipments between June 1 and Oct. 31.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 347.69 points or 1.27% to 27,761.57
• Shanghai closed
• Hang Seng closed
• ASX 200 increased 62.90 points or 0.88% to 7,238.80
• Kospi increased 11.66 points or 0.44% to 2,670.65
• SENSEX decreased 48.88 points or -0.09% to 55,769.23
• Nifty50 decreased 43.70 points or -0.26% to 16,584.30

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.00567 or -0.78% to 0.72093
• NZDUSD decreased 0.0052 or -0.79% to 0.65073
• USDJPY increased 0.934 or 0.72% to 130.880
• USDCNY decreased 0.00359 or -0.05% to 6.65607

Precious Metals:

• Gold decreased 17.67 USD/t oz. or -0.95% to 1,850.46
• Silver decreased 0.339 USD/t. oz or -1.52% to 21.942

Some economic news from last night:

Japan:

Services PMI (May) increased from 50.7 to 52.6

South Korea:

CPI (YoY) (May) increased from 4.8% to 5.4%

CPI (MoM) (May) remain the same at 0.7%

Australia:

AIG Construction Index (May) decreased from 55.9 to 50.4

Services PMI decreased from 56.1 to 53.2

Home Loans (MoM) decreased from 0.9% to -7.3%

Invest Housing Finance (MoM) decreased from 2.9% to -4.8%

Some economic news from today

India:

Nikkei Services PMI (May) increased from 57.9 to 58.9

FX Reserves, USD increased from 597.51B to 601.36B

Singapore:

Retail Sales (MoM) decreased from 7.4% to 1.2%

Retail Sales (YoY) increased from 8.8% to 12.1%

EUROPE/EMEA:

Germany’s Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Friday approved the creation of the 100 billion euro ($107.2 billion) special defense fund that Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The money is destined to top up the regular defense budget of around 50 billion euros over several years to help re-build Germany’s military, which has suffered years of neglect following the end of the Cold War. The fund should enable Germany to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of its economic output on defense each year, making it the world’s third-biggest military spender behind the United States and China.

The major Europe stock markets had a negative day:

• CAC 40 decreased 15.14 points or -0.23% to 6,485.30
• FTSE 100 decreased 74.71 points or -0.98% to 7,532.95
• DAX 30 decreased 25.08 points or -0.17% to 14,460.09

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD decreased 0.00281 or -0.26% to 1.07210
• GBPUSD decreased 0.00761 or -0.61% to 1.24994
• USDCHF increased 0.00441 or 0.46% to 0.96226

Some economic news from Europe today:

Germany:

German Exports (MoM) (Apr) increased from -3.0% to 4.4%

German Imports (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 3.2% to 3.1%

German Trade Balance (Apr) increased from 1.9B to 3.5B

German Composite PMI (May) decreased from 54.6 to 53.7

German Services PMI (May) decreased from 56.3 to 55.0

France:

French Industrial Production (MoM) (Apr) increased from -0.4% to -0.1%

French Markit Composite PMI (May) decreased from 57.1 to 57.0

French Services PMI (May) decreased from 58.4 to 58.3

Spain:

Spanish Services PMI (May) decreased from 57.1 to 56.5

Italy:

Italian Composite PMI (May) decreased from 54.5 to 52.4

Italian Services PMI (May) decreased from 55.7 to 53.7

Euro Zone:

Markit Composite PMI (May) decreased from 54.9 to 54.8

Services PMI (May) decreased from 56.3 to 56.1

Retail Sales (MoM) (Apr) decreased from 0.3% to -1.3%

Retail Sales (YoY) (Apr) increased from 1.6% to 3.9%

US/AMERICAS:

The jobs report is in – nonfarm payrolls in the US rose by 390,000 in May. According to the Labor Department, the leisure and hospitality sector saw the most notable uptick after incorporating 84,000 jobs. Professional and business services rose 75,000; government 57,000; transportation and warehousing 47,000; health care 42,100; construction 36,000; manufacturing 16,000; wholesale trade 14,100; financial services 8,000; mining and logging 5,000; utilities 500. The only sector with losses, albeit significant losses, was the retail trade which experienced a loss of 60,700 positions.

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 348.84 points or -1.05% to 32,899.44
• S&P 500 declined 68.31 points or -1.64% to 4,108.51
• Nasdaq declined 304.15 points or -2.47% to 12,012.73
• Russell 2000 declined 14.62 points or -0.77% to 1,883.05

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 241.08 points or -1.15% to 20,790.73
• TSX 60 declined 14.41 points or -1.13% to 1,256.72

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 1,290.59 points or -1.15% to 111,102.32

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a green day today:

• Crude Oil increased 2.64 USD/BBL or 2.26% to 119.510
• Brent increased 2.72 USD/BBL or 2.31% to 120.33
• Natural gas increased 0.008 USD/MMBtu or 0.09% to 8.4910
• Gasoline increased 0.0847 USD/GAL or 2.02% to 4.2756
• Heating oil increased 0.1004 USD/GAL or 2.39% to 4.3088

The above data was collected around 15:08 EST on Friday

• Top commodity gainers: Heating Oil (2.39%), Brent (2.31%), Oat (4.93%) and Lumber (3.43%)
• Top commodity losers: Coffee (-2.37%), Canola (-2.75%), Palladium (-3.78%) and Copper (-1.96%)

The above data was collected around 15:16 EST on Friday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.253%(+1.3bp), US 2’s 2.67% (+0.035%), US 10’s 2.9534% (+4.03bps); US 30’s 3.11% (+0.028%), Bunds 1.267% (+3.2bp), France 1.7970% (+3.5bp), Italy 3.407% (+10.7bp), Turkey 21.61% (+0bp), Greece 3.744% (+6.5bp), Portugal 2.487% (+7.1bp); Spain 2.472% (+10bp) and UK Gilts 2.1600% (+0.6bp).