China's stock market leads 2018 losses with both major indexes, the Shanghai composite and the Shenzhen component each facing annual declines of over 24%.
2018 saw both Australia and Hong Kong's benchmark indexes face annual declines. The ASX 200 falling 6.9% compared to its 2017 closing, whilst the Hang Seng index saw around a 13% decline compared to 2017.
China's manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in two years.. The official Purchasing Manager's Index reporting a
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
Friday’s trade: Activity in global markets was more settled on Friday. There isn’t a consensus yet whether the trading witnessed last week was a dead-cat bounce, or a true bottom. Nevertheless, perhaps the lack of substantial news flow was enough to keep the bulls and bears from clashing heads for one day. The ASX200 impressed the bullishly inclined, albeit once again on thin trade, to add 1 per cent during the Asian session. The index managed to chop th
US equities rallied late on Thursday to close higher in a wild session which saw the Dow finishing 1.1% up, after initially falling over 500 points earlier in the day. The S&P and Nasdaq also fell 2.8% and 3.3% respectively, but both ended in positive territory after the late surge.
Donald Trump is said to be considering an executive order which will ban US firms from using equipment built by Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei, according to a Reuters report.
Overall, European mar
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
A pull-back amid interesting activity: Markets received their slingshot higher and continue to swing about in both directions. That’s the key takeaway from last night’s trade; of course, that’s all too general, though – akin to explaining a rally in the market to their being more buyers-than-sellers. Yes, it’s self-evidently true, however it does little to answer the question of “why?”. Overall, market activity in the last 24-hours has provided a much gr
The three main American indices: the Dow, the S&P and the NASDAQ all rose over 4% on boxing day following the Dow’s worst Christmas eve ever.
Asian markets followed the trend with the Nikkei also raising 4%
Oil saw its largest daily gain since 2016 with an 8% rally. Oil related companies in Australia also climbed on the price increase.
The dollar basket rose almost 0.6% in the main session but finished the day with a strong gain of 0.29%
Huawei concerns deepen as
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
A big bounce, but a bottom? There’s little shortage of folks calling a bottom in the market this morning, but in truth it’s too early to tell if we are there yet. Sentiment indicators and other market internals suggest that the market could be oversold right now, however a short squeeze here-and-there and a shake-out of a few opportunistic bears doesn’t necessarily mark a change of trend. It’ll be returned to towards the end of this note, but in the inte
The U.S. Government has seen turmoil over the weekend after "Trump's Wall" disagreement on Friday resulted in a government shutdown.
Trump will be bringing in the new year with new Defence Secretary. Patrick Shanahan will replace James Mattis on 1st January, earlier than expected.
The end of the year sees further stock slumps, particularly for 2018 tech IPOs. Domo plummeting 25%, Zscaler tumbling 18% and Zurora and SurveyMonkey falling over 10%
Asian Stocks saw a mixed Mond
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 24 Dec 2018. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral ad
Wall Street rout: Wall Street capped-off last week with another day of considerable losses, even despite Europe posting an okay day. Come the end of the trading session, the Dow Jones had lost 1.81 per cent, the S&P500 had lost 2.06 per cent and the NASDAQ had lost 2.99 per cent. The fact markets are entering the thin holiday period doesn’t help. One assumes that many-a investor would be rather reluctant to be sitting at Christmas lunch this year holding open-positions in equities given this
Facebook Inc. works on its plans to create a cryptocurrency allowing money to be transferred on Whatsapp, focusing on the remittances market in India first
Chinese stocks become one of the worst performers globally as the Shanghai composite and Shenzhen index fall over 20% and 30% respectively this year
US Futures show a slight incline in performance for stocks on Wall Street, following a fall for the second day in a row. Dow Jones Industrial Average suggests an opening gain over a
Markets fall as Fed raised US interest rate from 2.25% to 2.5%
At its lowest the Dow fell over 4% following the announcement (its lowest point in over a year) of which it has now seen a small retracement.
Asian markets we also affected, the Hang Seng was down 1.24% at close whereas the Nikkei lost 2.84%, a 15-month low
The announcement saw the dollar gain almost 0.5% against the dollar basket but as investors have fully digested the statements made by the Fed this now sits a
Fed on tap: It’s a commentary written on the fly this morning, as developments out of this morning’s US Federal Reserve meeting are being digested by markets. The Fed has hiked rates just as they were expected to do, with market participants now trawling through the fine print in the Fed’s commentary. We were expecting a “dovish hike”; what we got looks like a “less-dovish than-expected-hike”. The dot plots were revised as presumed: the Fed has told the markets that it expects interest rates to
Bitcoin could have bottomed as its priced stabilized after the big disappointment it gave earlier this year. As the cryptocurrency has corrected 80-90% multiple times in the past, the slump this year could only be another bump in the road. However, scalability issues flog the currency as its promoters try to entail it in the real economy. Is the crypto market ready for another roller-coaster?
Oil temporarily bottomed after falling 7%, amidst concerns over the strength of global trade. Wes
US Fed watch: The US Fed meeting has been kickstarted and the markets are shuffling around in anticipation. US equities at time of writing are putting in a mixed performance, though al major Wall Street indices remain trading below key technical levels. It comes following a day in which Asian and European markets sold-off in sympathy with Monday night’s rout in North American shares. A desire for safety has supported a bid in US Treasuries: they are higher across the board. Interest rates trader
On the back of client feedback we now offer the possibility to customise the RSI levels on desktop and mobile devices. To do so, click on the RSI label once you have enable the indicator on your chart. This will open a dialog box that will allow you to change the levels (which are set at the default levels of 30/70), as well as customise the period and the colour of the lines.
What is RSI?
The Relative Strength Index is a momentum indicator that measures the magnitude of recent price c
The FOMC will begin its 2 day meeting today, with the markets expecting a 25 basis points interest rate increase upon its announcement on Wednesday, which would make this its fourth hike this year.
Homebuilder sentiment in the US declined in December to its lowest point in over 3 years, and could be an early indication of an economic softening.
Theresa May has announced that the "meaningful vote" for her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement is due to be held in the third week of January, a
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
ASX yesterday: The ASX200 put in a very respectable day's trade yesterday. It was looking gloomy at the outset. Market participants were preoccupied with the economic struggles in China and the Friday sell-off on Wall Street. However, the 32-point drop forecast for the Australian market didn't materialise, providing scope for the index to cling-on to the 5600-mark, and forge gains throughout the day. The Australian session ended with the ASX200 1.00 per
Please be aware that due to year end market factors we are seeing significant moves in the funding rates for most FX pairs. This has been observed across the market, although some pairs are looking to be worse affected than others (most notably if you are short US dollars). These factors include financial institutions balancing their books before the end of the year, putting a strain on certain currencies.
You can see overnight funding charges on FX pairs by using the link to the right. Thi
Theresa May is coming under increasing pressure from MPs to stop the gridlock on Brexit negotiations.
The pound is expected to see further volatility until at least mid-January as the unknown future of Brexit continues.
The Dollar continued to trade at a 19-month high on Monday as concerns over slowing economic growth have reduced the appetite for riskier stocks and currencies and have backed the greenback as a safe-haven.
The price of bitcoin has fallen below the cost to mi
Another Week, Another Set of Brexit Scenarios
It seems the weather patterns behind the Brexit seem to changing at a more rapid clip – always ending up back ‘in irons’ (pardon the nautical terminology) as the clock steadily winds down to the March 29 separation. This past week, was particularly momentous with the Prime Minister’s proposal supposedly going to vote in Parliament; but May decided to pull the vote before the allotted session as it was clear it would be voted down handily. And, c
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 17 Dec 2018. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral ad
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
2018 reaches a climax this week: It’s effectively the last serious trading week of the year, and the economic calendar reflects that. Indeed, there’ll be a handful of days between Christmas and New Years to keep across, but with little news and thin trade, it’s tough to imagine anything coming out of them. The markets are still ailing, with the bears firmly in control of price action. There’s so many risk-events coming up this week, traders with a bearis
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stumped Theresa May's effort to renegotiate on a key Brexit withdrawal point, namely the Irish Backstop.
China's reported industrial output and retail sales growth missed expectations. Industrial output growing by only 5.4% in November the slowest rate of increase in almost three years.
Asian Stocks fell as China's economy shows weakening. Shares in Hong Kong and Japan led declines, Japan Topix index sliding 1.5% and Shanghai Compo
