Asian equities open higher today in reaction to the rebound in US equities overnight. DJIA closed up 117.65 pts or 0.72% to close at 16515.22 but was kept well below 17000 handle. At the time of writing Nikkei is up 2.7%, HK HSI up 2% and China SSE (L:SSE) composite up 0.8%. Trade data from China also provide some support to sentiments. Trade surplus widened to USD 58.2b in December versus expectation of USD 52.2b. In Yuan term, exports surprised with 2.3% yoy rise comparing to expectation of -4.1% yoy drop. Imports dropped for the 14th month in Yuan term. That's thanks to recent depreciation in Yuan. Meanwhile, in USD term exports dropped -6.8% yoy to USD 197.4b while imports dropped -8..8% yoy to USD 143.1b.
In the currency markets, commodity currencies are trading up for the week as risk sentiments recovered mildly. Aussie, Kiwi and Loonie are the stronger ones together with dollar. Swiss Franc is so far the weakest one, followed by Euro and Yen. Nonetheless, there is no clear sign of change in recent trend yet. Canadian dollar and Sterling resumed recent down trend against dollar and stays bearish. Meanwhile, Euro and Swiss Franc are staying in range against the greenback and would continue to trade sideway.
In Eurozone, ECB governing council member Vitas Vasiliauskas said that monetary policy "should rather concentrate on core inflation". And, the low oil price is the "new reality" and "helps the real economy". Meanwhile, "for the moment, ECB policy is effective, it works, credit growth is positive, the real economy is expanding." ECB governing council member Josef Bonnici said that "the oil price fall has some positive impacts through raising the purchasing power of euro zone households and this reinforces the asset purchase programme." And, "there is also an impact on inflation, not in the desired direction, so there is some degree of offsetting between these factors." ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that "inflation remains too low, it's true, but facing this situation we have been, in the Eurosystem, active and effective."
Looking ahead, the economic calendar is rather light today. Eurozone will release industrial production. Fed will release Beige Book economic report.