10.10.13

Japanese machinery orders were higher than expected leading to the weakening of the JPY against the USD overnight. USD/JPY was trading at 97.66 with a high of 97.81 and a low of 97.46 so far, it had been trading at 97.20 before the figures were released yesterday. Bank of Japan President Kuroda makes a speech today which will be watched closely; expect some increased volume in JPY pairs from 11:45 GMT. The Australian unemployment rate dropped slightly from 5.8% to 5.6% The Aussie is recovering some of the losses against other currencies since last April. AUD/USD was trading at 0.9415 with a high of 0.9470 and a low of 0.9387 so far.

The NIKKEI closed at 14194.70 up 156.87 points or 1.12%

Europe awaits the ECB monthly report this morning, Italian, Greek and Portuguese figures relating to Industrial Output, Industrial Production and unemployment in Italy and Greece follow, but the big European event is the Bank of England’s rate decision, and asset purchasing figures. Both expected to remain unchanged though, at 0.5% and £375B respectively. Following these figures ECB President Mario Draghi gives a speech at 16:20 GMT.

The FTSE100 closed at 6337.91 down 27.92 points or minus 0.44% while the DAX closed at 8516.69 down 39.20 points or minus 0.46%

US Government shutdown continues, and both Democrats and Republicans continue to blame one another. Meanwhile Janet Yellen is widely expected to take over the role of Federal Reserve Chair once Ben Bernanke’s tenure comes to an end. Yellen as chair would be expected to maintain the FED’s accommodative stance on monetary policy. How accommodative one can be with no increase in the debt ceiling remains to be seen, and with each day that passes the likelihood of a US Government default is said to increase. China and Japan have both expressed concern, as they are holders of over three trillion dollars’ worth of US Bonds. EUR/USD was trading at 1.3505 with a high of 1.3523 and a low of 1.3487 so far.

The DOW closed at 14803.00 up 26.45 or 0.18%

Have a nice day.