Asian stock markets have opened the week strongly following on from their counterparts in the US. The Nasdaq led the way on Friday in the US session closing nearly 2% to the good with the S&P and Dow following in its wake, up 1.6% and 1.2% respectively. Despite yet another strong data release in the US the dollar dropped ground against the other major currencies and US yields pulled back.
Investors a preparing for a volatile week ahead in the global markets. Monday looks set to be the calm before a storm of potential market moving economic data releases and central bank announcements. Three of the major central banks have rate announcements this week with the RBA, BOC and BOJ all capable of shaking things up in the current environment. Added to this there is a plethora of tier 1 data due out culminating in the blue riband Non-Farm Payrolls numbers late in the Friday session. Things could either look a lot clearer by this time next week in terms of overall direction, or the waters could become even more clouded as the market pieces together the raft of fresh information.
Today’s sessions will give traders some pause for thought with only really CPI data in Switzerland and the Ivey PMI numbers in Canada likely to trouble the scorers. However, expect some volatility as investors look for final readjustments ahead of what could be a very volatile week.
