Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 1.00%, Shanghai Composite down 0.61%, Hang Seng down 1.92% ASX down 0.30%
- Commodities : Gold at $2313.5 (-0.03%), Silver at $29.18 (-0.54%), Brent Oil at $84.43 (-0.09%), WTI Oil at $80.31 (-0.17%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.336, UK 10-year yield at 4.167, Germany 10-year yield at 2.465
News & Data:
- (USD) New Home Sales 619K vs 636K expected
- (USD) Crude Oil Inventories 3.6M vs -2.6M expected
Markets Update:
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Thursday as the Japanese yen weakened to a near 38-year low, hitting 160.82 against the U.S. dollar. Two months ago, the yen breached the 160 level, prompting Japan’s first currency intervention since 2022. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki expressed concerns about the economic impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.
Japan’s retail sales growth for May was 3% year-on-year, surpassing the market forecast of 2%. Meanwhile, China’s industrial profits grew 3.4% year-on-year from January to May, reaching 2.75 trillion Chinese yuan ($378.41 million). For the first four months of this year, China’s industrial profits had risen by 4.3%.
In the stock markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined by 1% and the Topix lost 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led regional losses, dropping more than 2%, while Mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.41%. South Korea’s Kospi decreased by 0.48%, and the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.37% lower. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.35%.
In the U.S. overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.04%, the S&P 500 rose 0.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.49%, led by Amazon shares, which jumped 3.9%. Amazon reached an all-time high and a market value of $2 trillion for the first time, joining the ranks of Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft.
Upcoming Events:
- 12:30 PM GMT – USD Final GDP q/q
- 12:30 PM GMT – USD Unemployment Claims
- 2:00 PM GMT – USD Pending Home Sales m/m
- 2:30 PM GMT – USD Natural Gas Storage
