Investors cheered the approval of a trillion-yuan sovereign issue as a harbinger of stimulus, while the Chinese government unveiled new support plans that include issuing additional sovereign debt and lifting the budget deficit ratio to finance fresh measures. Hong Kong reversed a pandemic-increase in stock trade levies and Chief Executive John Lee also announced a plan to halve taxes on home purchases for residents as well as non-residents. That helped to boost property stocks, even as troubled Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. was deemed to be in default on a dollar bond for the first time
- Stock markets got a boost from fresh stimulus measures for China. The Hang Seng has pared some of its early gains, but is still up 1.0%, while the CSI300 has lifted 0.6% and the JPN225 0.7%.
- European stocks: In the red today weighed by a flurry of bank results and a mixed batch of US Big Tech earnings ahead of the ECB decision tomorrow.
- Microsoft, Alphabet, and Visa reported their earnings, which indicated strong performance with revenue and net income growth in their respective quarters.
- Alphabet (-6% in after-hours) sales beat damped by cloud computing miss.
- Microsoft’s (+4% in after-hours) unexpected rebound in Azure cloud growth lifted shares.
- Snap Inc. also reported revenue growth but experienced operating and net losses in the same period.
- Santander net profit rose 20% on record-high interest rates.
- FED: PMIs kept a Fed rate hike through the January 31 FOMC decision on the table with a 40% probability.
- USDIndex: returned above 106, but held sideways.
- AUDUSD: Aussie Dollar jumped after hotter-than-expected inflation lifted rate hike forecasts for the RBA next month, which would come after four rate pauses.
- USOIL steadied today at key 4-month support trendline after a 3-day sharp decline, amid signs that the Israel-Hamas war will remain contained for the time being at least. $83 is a key hurdle, which could indicate a move to $80.
- Gold holds gains above $1970.
- Bitcoin is up 15% this week amid speculation that ETF applications from BlackRock and others will succeed and drive capital into the asset class.
- Today: Germany IFO business climate, BOC rate decision, US new home sales and IBM, Meta earnings.
Interesting Mover: USDCAD broken the descending trendline from the draw tops of 1.3977 and 1.3861.
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Andria Pichidi
Market Analyst
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