Category Archives: Weekly Outlook
Dollar Holds on to Gains After Hike Expectations Bounce
Written on April 20, 2023 at 5:11 am, by lishitong
USD remains elevated even as the economy shows signs of weakening The U.S dollar saw a bounce on Monday after a sustained dip on the back of signs of easing inflation and the recent bank stress. Resilient retails sales, optimistic earnings in Wall Street, and hike-signalling from the Fed have caused the dollar to surgeContinue Reading
Alibaba to roll out AI Tech to rival ChatGPT
Written on April 17, 2023 at 4:57 am, by lishitong
Alibaba Cloud has unveiled its AI chatbot, Tongyi Qianwen The Chinese tech giant, Alibaba Cloud, unveiled an AI-driven chatbot Tongyi Qianwen that will gradually become available across all Alibaba products, from enterprise communication to e-commerce, in the coming period. The chatbot will possess Chinese and English language capabilities and will be initially deployed on DingTalkContinue Reading
Gold Surges Past 2010 as Inflation Shows Signs of Slowing
Written on April 13, 2023 at 5:46 am, by lishitong
On Wednesday, 12 April, the U.S. CPI data was released, showing that March’s headline inflation in the U.S. slowed more than anticipated, with the year-on-year number showing a drop from 6.0% in February to 5.0% in March; lower than the expected 5.2%. The monthly rate decreased to 0.1% from 0.4%, which was lower than theContinue Reading
Mixed Asian Shares After Surprise Rate Hike by RBNZ
Written on April 10, 2023 at 3:17 am, by lishitong
Asian markets were mixed as investors digested a US labour report showing a drop in job openings to their lowest level in almost two years in February. New Zealand’s central bank increased its benchmark cash rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, causing the New Zealand dollar to strengthen by almost 0.9%. Meanwhile, Japan’s NikkeiContinue Reading
Nasdaq 100 Enters Bull Market as Fears Over Banking Crisis Ease
Written on April 6, 2023 at 5:58 am, by lishitong
On Wednesday, 8 March, the U.S. ADP Nonfarm Employment Change data for February was released, coming in at a lower-than-expected 145,000 against the expected 200,000 and down from January’s figure of an upwardly-revised 261,000. This is the latest in a string of cooling data showing that the Fed’s aggressive tightening regime might finally be takingContinue Reading
Crude Surges on Surprise OPEC+ Cuts
Written on April 3, 2023 at 6:07 am, by lishitong
Oil prices surged at the beginning of the week after OPEC+ unexpectedly announced crude output cuts that could tighten the market, causing inflationary concerns for the global economy. The cuts, which will exceed 1 million barrels a day, were not expected by traders who anticipated output to remain steady. Goldman Sachs raised price forecasts forContinue Reading
Nasdaq 100 Enters Bull Market as Fears Over Banking Crisis Ease
Written on March 30, 2023 at 4:51 am, by lishitong
Has the banking crisis abated? Equity investors seem to think so, with the Nasdaq surging close to 2% on Wednesday as the markets assess a successful containment of the banking crisis caused by the failure of regional banks and one Credit Suisse. This puts the tech-heavy index technically in bull market territory, closing more thanContinue Reading
Fed Takes Risk With Rate Hike Amid Banking Crisis
Written on March 23, 2023 at 7:21 am, by lishitong
Investors hoping for a pause in rate hikes were disappointed as the U.S. Federal Reserve pushed ahead with a quarter-point hike at its interest rate decision on Wednesday. While way lower than 2022’s mega-hikes of 50 to 75 bps and in line with economist expectations, March’s 25-point hike is a calculated risk amid what isContinue Reading
Credit Suisse Fallout Hits Major Banks
Written on March 20, 2023 at 5:17 am, by lishitong
The latest and largest fall in the recent banking turmoil is embattled Swiss lender Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse Group AG bondholders suffered a historic loss of about CHF 16bn ($17.3bn) worth of risky notes when a takeover by UBS Group AG triggered a “complete write-down” of the bank’s additional tier 1 (AT1) bonds in orderContinue Reading
Stubbornly Strong Jobs Data Supports Hawkish Fed Outlook
Written on March 9, 2023 at 6:52 am, by lishitong
In a continued chain of unrelentingly robust jobs data, the U.S. ADP Nonfarm printed a reading of 242,000 for February, higher than an estimated 205 000 and up from a revised 119,000 for January. The service sector had the largest contribution to job additions with 190,000, of which a majority came from the leisure andContinue Reading