Wall Street in limbo ahead of Powell
A choppy session on Wall Street left US indices little changed at the close as the markets await Fed Chairman Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium. A positive start soured after PMI data came in weaker than expected.
US30USD Daily Chart
The US30 index hit the highest in nine days yesterday before closing lower on the day
The index tested the 100-day moving average at 26,293 but again failed to close above it
The US August flash manufacturing PMI from Markit fell below the key 50 contraction/expansion threshold for the first time since 2009. Analysts had been expecting an improvement to 50.5 from 50.4. There’s a slew of Fed speakers at Jackson Hole today, including Bullard, Kaplan, Mester and Harker before Jerome Powell headlines at 2200 Singapore time.
De30EUR Daily Chart
The Germany30 index retreated from a two-week high to close lower yesterday, despite positive vibes from Brexit comments and better-than-forecast PMI data
The index touched the highest since August 9 yesterday and is rising toward the 100-day moving average at 12,117
Germany’s flash manufacturing PMI from Markit jumped to 43.6 in August, confounding analysts expectations of a drop to 43.0. It was still the 15th straight month in contraction territory. There are no major data releases from either Germany or the Euro-zone scheduled for today.
CN50USD Daily Chart
The China50 index fell yesterday after failing to take out the previous day’s three-week high
The index has held above the 55-day moving average for the past three days. That moving average is now at 13,381
China Premier Li Keqiang said he hopes China, Japan and South Korea can reach a free trade pact early. That could be a tough call given how the relationship between the latter two has deteriorated in the last few weeks. Yesterday South Korea said it would withdraw from an intelligence-sharing pact between the two countries in response to Japan’s move to remove it from a list of trusted export countries.
