Market News

Asian shares fell the most in over a year on Monday as fears of resurgent inflation battered bonds, toppled Wall Street from record highs and sparked speculation that central banks globally might be forced to tighten policy more aggressively.

Tightening expectations and the upbeat performance of European equities buoyed the shared currency higher for the most part of the previous week while the franc took its share of gains from risk-off flows. What’s next?

The yen took cues from bond yields and overall risk sentiment last week. With no major data coming up, will risk sentiment dictate its price action again?

Last week the New Zealand dollar was vulnerable to opposing currency price action as well as overall risk aversion. Will it get to dance to its own tune this week?

Week domestic data and overall profit-taking in the markets weighed on the Aussie last week. Will the bulls redeem themselves with this week’s catalysts?

U.S. job growth surged in January and wages increased further, recording their largest annual gain in more than 8-1/2 years, bolstering expectations that inflation will push higher this year as the labor market hits full employment.

The morning London session was relatively calm, likely because traders were hunkering down for the NFP report. The session wasn’t a complete snooze fest, though, since USD was nudged higher.

After getting hit by the holiday lull in December and paling in comparison to the cryptocurrency  market, the forex industry was off to a roaring, record-breaking start to 2018.

With not a lot of data on the docket, Asian session forex traders focused on the NFP report coming up in a few hours.

Japan’s financial regulator on Friday swooped on Coincheck Inc with surprise checks of its systems and said it had asked the Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange to fix flaws in its computer networks well before hackers stole $530 million of digital money last week.

U.S. job growth likely accelerated in January and wages increased further, underscoring the strong momentum in the economy at the start of the year.

Another day, another loss for the Greenback! What’s new? Not even stronger than expected economic reports were enough to keep the dollar afloat.

Bond yields shot up and global equity markets were jumpy on Thursday as investor jitters over the likelihood of rising inflation and high stock valuations dampened the appetite for risk assets after a euphoric January in markets.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to a tightening labor market and strengthening economy at the start of the year.

Today’s morning London saw a three-way battle royal between GBP, EUR, and CHF, with EUR ultimately coming out ahead. JPY, meanwhile, was feeling some bearish pressure.

Oil prices rose on Thursday after a survey showed OPEC’s commitment to its supply cuts remains in place, even as U.S. production topped 10 million barrels per day for the first time since 1970.

World stocks rose on Thursday after three days of losses and European shares opened higher, although U.S. and German bond yields near multi-year highs checked the gains and kept stocks from regaining recent record highs.

Not a lot of major data on the docket today, although we did see PMI reports from Japan, China, and Australia, as well as a bit of action for the yen.

China’s manufacturing sector sustained growth at multi-month highs in January, a private business survey showed on Thursday, as factories continued to raise output to meet new orders, suggesting resilience in the world’s second-largest economy.

The dollar held steady against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signaled its confidence about inflation and growth in the world’s biggest economy, reinforcing views it will raise rates several more times this year.