Investors will be closely monitoring developments in Chinese markets today as they reopen after a week long holiday. The PBOC announced a further cut to the reserve ratio on Friday in a bid to boost the economy as growth slows down and trade tensions increase. US bond yields have soared over the last week and currency traders a looking for further depreciation in the Yuan at the start of the week, especially against the greenback. Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll data added a bit more fuel to the dollar fire, even though the headline number was much worse than expected, a large revision increase in last months number plus another drop to the unemployment rate kept things buoyant.
US stock markets finished the week once again in the red with tech stocks leading the way, the NASDAQ dropped over 3% in the course of last weeks trading and Asian markets are set to open down today. Investors will be hoping for a change of fortune as we progress through the week but will probably have to wait a day or two as some of the worlds major markets are closed for various public holidays including Japan, the US and Canada.
It is very quiet in terms of fundamental data releases today and indeed for most of the week. Probably the main focus will be US data on Wednesday and Thursday when we have the latest PPI and CPI numbers due out. Investors will continue to focus on the major themes that we have seen over the last couple of weeks and will continue to closely monitor their news screens for any fresh updates that could be market moving.