From Marc to Market:
Overview: There have been significant moves in the capital markets this week and participants are turning cautious ahead of the US employment report. After the US equity market rally stalled yesterday, nearly all the Asia Pacific bourses fell today. The strength of the yen (~3.8% this week) has weighed on Japanese equities (Nikkei -1.8% this week) and spurred the BOJ to buy ETFs today for the first time in five months. Europe’s Stoxx 600 is nursing a small loss as its closes in on its seventh consecutive weekly advance. US futures are a little heavier in quiet turnover. European 10-year yields are 3-4 bp lower, bringing the weekly decline to 20-25 bp. Gilts have underperformed, with the 10-year yield off about six basis points. The US benchmark yield is little changed near 3.51%. The US dollar has a heavier bias, but the Canadian dollar and Scandi are themselves a little lower. Emerging market currencies are mostly higher, led by a bounce in the South African rand (~1.9%) after losing about 3.75% over the past two sessions amid domestic political discord. The Mexican peso, South Korean won, and Indian rupee are sporting small losses.
Gold is little changed straddling $1800. It has recovered from the week’s low slightly below $1740. January WTI is quiet around $81.25, ahead of OPEC+ meeting this weekend (output expected to be unchanged) and the EU’s elusive efforts to agree on a cap on Russian oil prices as the ban on seaborne imports kicks at the start of next week. US natgas prices are skidding lower for the third consecutive session. They have fallen by around 9.5% over this run. Europe’s benchmark is little changed today and is up about 9.6% this week. Iron ore prices rose almost 4% today to lift this week’s advance to 7.7%. It is the fifth weekly advance, over which time it has rallied by almost 35%. Optimism about Chinese measures to support the property market has been the critical driver. March copper is threatening to snap a three-day rally that was worth almost 5.5%. March wheat is off about 1.75% today, which essentially doubles the week’s drop. If sustained, it would be the ninth weekly loss in the past 10 weeks, during which time it has fallen by around 17.5%....
....MUCH MORE
His discussion of China's reopening plans is more informative than any I've seen elsewhere.
