Parliament says no again, & again

Asia

With US chief negotiators, Lighthizer and Mnuchin arriving today for extended talks, China has reportedly offered the US a range of proposals regarding forced technology transfer – a major stumbling block in negotiations between the two powers.

Asian indexes closed down this morning, led by the Nikkei’s 1.6% drop. Odd men out were Australia’s S&P/ASX and New Zealand’s Dow Jones.

Overnight, however, New Zealand’s central bank downgraded its Activity Outlook for March. Prepare tonight for CPIs, retail trade and industrial production from Japan.

Europe

The Pound Sterling took a massive dip as Parliament voted down all eight possible iterations of Brexit last night, then impassively returned to its previous band, trading above the 1.3190 level this morning.

Across the channel, Mario Draghi yesterday expressed pessimism due to a regional slowdown generated – he claims – by the global mood in general.

He hinted that the zone’s central bank was considering reviving its supportive policies. Other than the FTSE, major European indexes closed in the red yesterday. This afternoon, Germany will be reporting its Consumer Price Index.

US

The US Dollar continues steady this morning after treasury yields stabilize – still, however, with the 3-month and 10-year inverted.

Yesterday’s trade balance shows a slight improvement, the deficit narrowing from December’s $60bn to 51.5 in January, as tariffs on Chinese imports finally take hold.

Technology and healthcare stocks were behind yesterday’s downward closing in indexes, led by the S&P500 at 0.46%. Ahead today – the US’s now-downgraded GDP estimates for 2018’s 4th quarter.

Driven by rising oil prices, Canada yesterday posted a slight improvement in January’s trade balance, but with a $4.25bn deficit, this was markedly below expectations.

Commodities

Oil yesterday took a $1.20 hit after the EIA confirmed a 2.8mB increase in stockpiles. Gold continues its uptrend, exhibiting a $6 bull gap when Asian markets opened last night. And Bitcoin finally surged through the $4,000 resistance level overnight, trading above its new support level.

Shares

Despite its superior performance, Seeking Alpha today reports that sales of Audi’s e-tron and Jaguar’s I-PACE have outpaced Tesla’s high-range models X & S. With additional competition expected from Mercedes, Volvo and BMW, analysts fear for the company’s luxury market share.

Events

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