ASIA:

China’s embattled property sector made new progress in its climb out of a months-long slump as official data for January-February on Wednesday showed much narrower declines in home sales, developer investment and construction starts. Home sales by floor area in the first two months of 2023 fell 3.6% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), compared with a 24% decline for the whole of 2022. The narrower sales decline followed a rise in new home prices in January, the first uptick in a year, as buyers, while still cautious, found solace in a slew of supportive policies, expectations of more stimulus steps and China’s exit from its crushing zero-COVID regime. Property investment by developers in January-February was down 5.7% on the same period of 2022, improving on December’s 12% annual slump and a 10% decline for the entire 2022.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 7.44 points or 0.03% to 27,229.48

• Shanghai increased 18.00 points or 0.55% to 3,263.31

• Hang Seng increased 291.91 points or 1.52% to 19,539.87

• ASX 200 increased 60.00 points or 0.86% to 7,068.90

• Kospi increased 30.75 points or 1.31% to 2,379.72

• SENSEX decreased 49.14 points or -0.08% to 57,851.05

• Nifty50 decreased 71.15 points or -0.42% to 16,972.15

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.00699 or -1.05% to 0.66091

• NZDUSD decreased 0.0053 or -0.85% to 0.61820

• USDJPY decreased 1.608 or -1.20% to 132.612

• USDCNY increased 0.02604 or 0.38% to 6.90804

Precious Metals:

• Gold increased 26.51 USD/t oz. or 1.39% to 1,928.63

• Silver increased 0.262 USD/t. oz or 1.21% to 21.952

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Fixed Asset Investment (YoY) (Feb) increased from 5.1% to 5.5%

Industrial Production (YoY) (Feb) increased from 1.3% to 2.4%

Chinese Industrial Production YTD (YoY) (Feb) decreased from 3.6% to 2.4%

Chinese Unemployment Rate (Feb) increased from 5.5% to 5.6%

New Zealand:

Current Account (QoQ) (Q4) increased from -11.40B to -9.46B

Current Account (YoY) (Q4) decreased from -31.87B to -33.79B

Some economic news from today:

India:

Exports (USD) (Feb) increased from 32.91B to 33.88B

Imports (USD) (Feb) increased from 50.66B to 51.31B

Trade Balance (Feb) increased from -17.75B to -17.43B

EUROPE/EMEA:

French President Emmanuel Macron’s much-disputed plan to raise the retirement age by two years to 64 moved forward on Wednesday as a select group of lawmakers from both houses of parliament agreed a compromise text, despite nationwide protests. But approval of the deeply unpopular bill – which has faced huge street protests and repeated job walkouts – by the lower house of parliament on Thursday is far from a done deal. Opinion polls show a vast majority of voters oppose the changes, and unions, and protesters, have warned they will continue their mobilization even if the bill is voted through on Thursday. The government had initially said that pushing back the retirement age by two years and extending the pay-in period would yield an additional 17.7 billion euros in annual pension contributions, allowing the system to break even by 2027.

The major Europe stock markets had a negative day:

• CAC 40 decreased 255.86 points or -3.58% to 6,885.71

• FTSE 100 decreased 292.66 points or -3.83% to 7,344.45

• DAX 30 decreased 497.57 points or -3.27% to 14,735.26

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD decreased 0.01953 or -1.82% to 1.05367

• GBPUSD decreased 0.01288 or -1.06% to 1.20292

• USDCHF increased 0.0097 or 1.06% to 0.92370

Some economic news from Europe today:

France:

French CPI (MoM) (Feb) increased from 0.4% to 1.1%

French HICP (MoM) (Feb) increased from 0.4% to 1.1%

Euro Zone:

Industrial Production (MoM) (Jan) increased from -1.3% to 0.7%

US/AMERICAS:

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the SNB are coming to Credit Sussie’s rescue after announcing it will provide the bank with liquidity if necessary. In a joint statement, the two institutions said that Credit Sussie “meets the capital and liquidity requirements imposed on systemically important banks.” The Swiss central bank said it is not worried about the string of bank failures in the US last week as it does not see a “direct risk of contagion.”

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 280.83 points or -0.87% to 31,874.57
• S&P 500 declined 27.36 points or -0.7% to 3,891.93
• Nasdaq advanced 5.9 points or 0.05% to 11,434.05
• Russell 2000 declined 30.95 points or -1.74% to 1,745.94

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 315.32 points or -1.6% to 19,378.84
• TSX 60 declined 17.51 points or -1.48% to 1,165.12

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 256.93 points or -0.25% to 102,675.45

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a negative day today:

• Crude Oil decreased 4.639 USD/BBL or -6.50% to 66.691

• Brent decreased 4.929 USD/BBL or -6.36% to 72.521

• Natural gas decreased 0.152 USD/MMBtu or -5.91% to 2.4210

• Gasoline decreased 0.1546 USD/GAL or -6.06% to 2.3984

• Heating oil decreased 0.1522 USD/GAL or -5.61% to 2.5622

The above data was collected around 12:17 EST on Wednesday

• Top commodity gainers: Gold (1.39%), Silver (1.21%), Lumber (1.40%) and Bitumen (2.34%)

• Top commodity losers: Crude Oil (-6.50%), Brent (-6.36%), Gasoline (-6.06%) and Natural Gas (-5.91%)

The above data was collected around 12:22 EST Wednesday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.328% (+5.2bp), US 2’s 3.79% (-0.433%), US 10’s 3.3914% (-24.46bps); US 30’s 3.61% (-0.148%), Bunds 2.114% (-34bp), France 2.674% (-29.1bp), Italy 4.089% (-18.9bp), Turkey 10.99% (+0bp), Greece 4.242% (-10.4bp), Portugal 3.093% (-26.5bp); Spain 3.245% (-25.7bp) and UK Gilts 3.317% (-16.7bp).

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