Gold and silver rise and the US dollar falls again, with yen traders on high alert for intervention. Australian household spending falls in December, surprisingly. And stock investors welcome election results in Japan and Thailand.
In our Deep-Dive interview, ANZ’s Group Chief Economist Richard Yetsenga analyses Singapore’s resilience despite a year of global trade dramas.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
Global markets were on edge overnight and focused on election results, including in Japan and Thailand, and on geopolitics, with the talk that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer may resign weakening the pound and UK bond (gilt) prices. ANZ’s Head of FX Strategy Mahjabeen Zaman says intervention talk bolstered the yen, but she still sees weakness longer term as markets question renewed PM’s budget approach.
Australian household spending fell 0.4% in December from November, which was a surprise because market expectations had been for a rise of around 0.1%. ANZ Economist Aaron Luk says some spending may have been pulled forward from December into the Black Friday and other sales events in October and November.
Election results in Thailand over the weekend that strengthened the authority of the ruling party were welcomed by investors there yesterday, says ANZ Economist Kausani Basak.
The Reserve Bank of India has held its main policy rate unchanged, as expected. ANZ Economist Dhiraj Nim says rates are now on hold.
ANZ Economist Bansi Madhavani is looking for US retail sales to grow 0.4% in December from November in data out tonight. She sees delayed US jobs data on Wednesday night showing jobs growth of 69,000 in January, up from 50,000 in December.
Cheers,
Bernard.
PS: Catch you tomorrow with with that update on US retail sales and a closer look at what’s ailing the US jobs market.
PPS: (#5 in yesterday’s edition was corrected to make clear Soni Kumari was referring to the gold/silver ratio, not the silver price. My apologies for the error, which was mine.)
