Morning Recap Monday 24 January 2022
Global Markets Update
U.S. MARKETS
Equity markets closed lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 down -1.9%. Dow Jones down -1.3% and NASDAQ down -2.7%. Amid rising geopolitical tensions after a report that Washington is allowing some Baltic states to send U.S.-made weapons to Ukraine stoked concerns about a standoff with Russia.
Long-dated U.S. treasury yields were lower, with the 2-Yr yield at 1.001% and the 10-Yr yield at 1.758%.
EUROPEAN MARKETS
European equity markets closed lower on Friday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down -1.8%, German DAX down -1.9% and U.K. FTSE 100 declining -1.2%. As elevated energy costs and rising prices of other goods amid supply-chain bottlenecks have added to worries about faster-than-expected monetary-policy tightening. U.K. retail sales plummeted in December with the volume of goods sold in stores and online falling -3.7% MoM, the biggest drop since January 2021’s lockdown, as the spread of the omicron variant kept shoppers at home.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian equity markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with the Shanghai Composite down -0.9%. After data revealed a Covid-19 cluster in China’s capital Beijing continues to grow and shows early signs of spreading to neighboring provinces. The Hang Seng was up +0.1%, KOSPI down -1.0% and Nikkei 225 declined -0.9%. Gains in Japan’s key consumer prices failed to accelerate toward the Bank of Japan’s target in December. With CPI excluding fresh food rising +0.5% yoy, with cheaper household appliances and smaller gains in hotel prices outweighing the impact of higher energy costs. Highlighting the ongoing weakness in the economy’s inflation pulse in stark contrast to its global peers.
WTI oil is trading at US$85.14 a barrel. Iron ore price is at US$121.21 per ton. Spot gold is trading at US$1,835 per oz.
