Market Update by Solidecn.com

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Asia Market Wrap:

Asian markets are seeing a downturn, reflecting a global bond market sell-off due to fears of prolonged high interest rates. This has affected various assets, with global equities taking a significant hit.

The ISM manufacturing data and the JOLTS report suggest a hawkish outlook. The US factory sector, in contraction for 11 months, shows signs of potential expansion. The JOLTS report highlighted a large gap between labour supply and demand, leading to increased wages.

Amid strong economic data and predictions of higher rates from experts like Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio, bondholders are nervous. Navigating such bond markets requires courage.

The US economy remains strong, with an estimated annualized growth rate of 4.2% in Q3, up from 2.1% in Q2. This is surprising given the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening. Factors like pent-up pandemic demand, job creation, and wage increases contribute to this growth.

However, the US economy is expected to slow down significantly, potentially below 1% in Q4 and may stall next year. This is due to the impact of the Federal Reserve's large interest rate hikes last year. The housing market is particularly affected, with 30-year mortgage rates at a 23-year high of over 7%, leading to low home sales and affordability issues. Bank lending standards are tightening. Services could be affected as households cut back on non-essential purchases and many have depleted their pandemic savings. Additionally, many student loan borrowers have resumed repayments after a 3.5-year break, adding to consumer financial pressures.

The current economic slowdown aligns with the Federal Reserve's aim to control inflation. However, rising oil prices have paused the steady decrease in inflation, which had fallen from a peak of 9.1% in summer 2022 to 3.0% in June, then rose to 3.7% in August. On the bright side, core inflation, excluding food and energy, has remained stable at near two-year lows of 4.3%, down from 6.6% last fall. This is due to smoother global supply chains and slower wage growth. But services inflation remains high, suggesting a return to the Fed's 2% target won't likely happen until early 2025.

The theme of "higher for longer" has pushed 10-year Treasury yields up by 130 basis points over the past five months, reaching a 16-year high of 4.8%. It's expected that yields will drop to 4.25% by year-end and further to 3.75% in late 2024, but this will likely need US data to show a downturn, a looser labour market, and lower inflation to convince investors.

The quick reversal of the US Treasury yield curve is significant. This change could lead to imminent recession warnings. If the unemployment rate increases even slightly, it could trigger recession alarms.

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USDJPY Takes a Dive, Is Bank of Japan Stepping In?

The USDJPY pair saw a significant drop this afternoon. The shift was swift and substantial, happening just as the pair reached the 150.00 mark - a peak not seen since October 2022! This level is crucial as it's often considered the trigger point for intervention by the Bank of Japan, as has happened in the past. Before this drop, the pair was climbing due to a strengthening US dollar, spurred on by a rise in JOLTS job openings data for August.





The USDJPY fell from around 150.00 to approximately 147.30 - a nearly 2% drop. Although much of this decline has been recovered, the pair is still trading close to the 149.00 mark.

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Oil Analysis


Oil prices have been dropping for four days straight after reaching their highest point in 13 months. The price of a barrel of WTI oil almost hit $94, as buyers tried hard to keep prices high.


This seems to be the third increase in prices since they fell in June. Starting from last Thursday, any attempts to raise the price during the day have been stopped by large sell orders. On Tuesday, WTI's price briefly fell below $87, which is 7.5% less than the highest point last week.


Worries about a slowing world economy led to large sell orders that stopped any attempts to raise the price during the day. This constant pressure seems to be more than just a temporary cooling off of the market and fits the usual pattern of three downward movements.


Last month, there was a divergence on the daily RSI timeframe when a higher price peak happened at the same time as a lower oscillator peak. This often means that bullish momentum is running out. It's also worth noting that the index has already moved away from the overbought zone, which shows the start of the decline.


The next potential drop in price could be to the $84.4 per barrel area. The 50-day moving average is around this area, as are the price peaks from early August and mid-April.





However, oil prices could drop even further. The slowing global economy and decreasing final demand are now working against it. Moreover, oil has been rising against a rising dollar and falling markets for a long time. And now it might catch up with the falling markets with even greater force.


An important signal from exporters: there were reports last month of increased oil exports from Russia and Saudi Arabia, which reduced the market deficit and raised questions about whether the cartel's production limit is really as strict as it seems.


More solid support for oil might only come with a drop to $78. That's the 50-week moving average, but we wouldn't be surprised to see a drop to $75 by the end of the year. These are high levels by historical standards, but they no longer seem like they're holding back the economy or a good reason for further policy tightening.


From a global perspective, lower oil prices will now be good for equity indices rather than a sign of decreasing risk appetite, as is usually the case.

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Yield Curves Rise as US Shutdown Averted, Inflation Remains High

The yield curves have steepened this week, with the 10-year UST and Bund yields reaching new highs. This comes after a potential US government shutdown was avoided, leading to higher yields and firmer riskier assets. Despite this, inflation remains high, with the core PCE release for September close to 4% and the core CPI estimate for the Eurozone at 4.5%.



ECB Cautious on Inflation, Italian Spreads Recover

Luis de Guindos, Vice President of the European Central Bank (ECB), confirmed in a recent interview that discussions about rate cuts are premature. He highlighted the challenges posed by increased oil prices on inflation expectations. Meanwhile, Italian government bond spreads have recovered, with the BTP Valore sale attracting significant demand.

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Tesla

Wall Street is expected to open lower, with futures indices erasing earlier gains. Investors are shifting towards lower-risk positions as US 10-year bond yields surge and the dollar strengthens.

Final PMI data indicates a contraction phase in major economies despite better-than-expected results from Europe. US Manufacturing PMI improved due to increased employment and better supply availability, but inflation concerns persist due to rising producers' costs.

US ISM Manufacturing PMI shows contraction for the 11th month in a row, despite some recovery signs. While demand remains soft, production improved, and suppliers retained capacity. Discrepancies between ISM and PMI prices underscore the rapidly changing environment.


Goldman warns of the impact of rising rates on US corporate profits. Kevin McCarthy faces pressure from Joe Biden to fund Ukraine and from Matt Gaetz to cut government spending. Bill Ackman plans to pursue a deal with Elon Musk's X through Pershing Square's SPARC.

The US500 index is trading at 4320 points, down 0.20%, with selling pressure preventing recovery. It's set to retest the critical 4300 support zone.

Tesla's shares fell 4.0% as Q3 deliveries and production fell short of estimates. The company delivered 435,059 vehicles and produced 430,488, attributing the decline to planned factory upgrades. However, Tesla's 2023 volume target of 1.8 million vehicles remains unchanged.

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US100 - Chart of the days

US index futures opened higher following the weekend, with US100 jumping almost 0.7% at futures trade launch. This is a response to US Congress passing a stopgap funding bill over the weekend that will ensure financing for the US government for 45 days. This means that a US government shutdown has been avoided, at least for now. US politicians will now attempt to work out a more enduring agreement before the new deadline passes in mid-November.

While the US government shutdown was never seen as a significant, plausible risk for the markets and discussions dragging close to the deadline were mostly attempts to win as many concessions from the other side as possible, some weakness could be seen on Wall Street on Friday, signaling that some investors positioned for a potential lack of agreement, and today's jump can be viewed as a retracement of that move.



Taking a look at the Nasdaq-100 futures chart (US100) at D1 interval, we can see that today's bounce plays well into the overall technical bullish setup. Index continues to climb following a bounce off the lower limit of the Overbalance structure. Bulls are trying to push the index back above the psychological 15,000 pts area today. Should they succeed, the way towards the major near-term resistance ranging below the 15,650 pts would be left open.

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Silver


Silver prices have been rising strongly, boosted by lower bond yields, a weaker US dollar, gains in the Chinese market, and a generally better mood in global markets. The future looks bright for silver due to increased demand from the solar power industry and limited supply from major mines. ANZ Research predicts that by 2025, solar power will increase silver demand to 225 million ounces, up from an estimated 161 million ounces in 2023. Today's rise in silver prices is mainly due to global factors and speculators covering their short positions, expecting silver prices to fall further. Silver has been under pressure for several days due to the strong dollar and high yields.

As markets become more confident that interest rates may have reached their peak, some analysts predict that silver prices will rise if monetary policy is gradually relaxed worldwide.


Will solar energy increase the demand for silver?

According to the Silver Institute, the silver market had a deficit of 237.7 million ounces in 2022, and this deficit is expected to continue in the coming years. However, large inventories and holdings of individuals and investors are filling this gap. Silver Institute analysts say that demand for silver from photovoltaic (PV) cells used in solar panels has tripled over the past eight years to 160 million ounces. This represents 14% of total silver demand in 2023, compared to 5% in 2014. There is a risk that the amount of silver used in panels could be reduced if prices become too high for producers, but there is limited scope for reduction given the usefulness of the metal.



Looking at the silver price chart, we can see that the price has risen above the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the upward trend from March 2020 and is now close to surpassing all three key moving averages, which are almost at the same level of $23.4 per ounce. If prices break above these averages, it could signal a potential rebound towards $25.7, where we see the 23.6% Fibonacci level. On a daily basis, despite today's strong increases, the RSI indicator is just over 53 points. The area around $22.5 has been a strong support for buyers in recent months - a possible decline around this level could signal longer-term weakness.



Looking at the SILVER chart and the dollar index (USDIDX, gold color), we see that a strong upward impulse has re-emerged as the dollar reduces the recent very strong gains. At the same time, the trend line has been maintained.

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USD Index - Chart of the Day

The US dollar has been increasing in value recently. This was caused by a large number of bonds being sold, which increased the yield (or return) on US Treasury bonds. The yield on 10-year bonds went above 4.60% and almost reached 4.70%. But then, the situation changed - the bonds regained their earlier losses and the yield on 10-year bonds fell below 4.60%. This also caused the value of the US dollar to decrease.




If we look at the USD index (USDIDX) chart for daily intervals, we can see that the index increased by more than 7% in the last two months and reached 106.50 - the highest it's been since late-November 2022. However, USDIDX has already fallen about 1% from its peak and is getting close to a price range that's around 38.2% lower than the high point it reached in September 2022. The lowest point of this range is near the bottom of this zone, and if it falls below this point, it could mean that the value of the US dollar might start decreasing.

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Today’s Forex Focus: GBPUSD Pair

The GBPUSD pair is currently experiencing a positive trading trend, testing the MA 50. This situation calls for caution in the upcoming trades. For the bearish trend to remain valid today, it’s essential for the price to return below the moving average. However, a close above the moving average could propel the price towards additional gains, potentially reaching 1.2280.



The Stochastic indicator is clearly losing its positive momentum, which bolsters the chances of a decline. It’s worth noting that our anticipated target stands at 1.2030. The expected trading range for today lies between the support level at 1.2040 and the resistance level at 1.228. The forecasted trend for today is bearish.

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EURUSD Anticipates Further Downtrends

The EURUSD currency pair is currently hovering around the 1.0500 mark, poised for a potential downward shift. This is in line with the anticipated bearish trend for the forthcoming period, with 1.0440 being the next target on the downside.

The EMA50 consistently backs the bearish wave within the visible bearish channel on the chart. It’s important to note that a breach of 1.0545 could halt the projected decline and trigger some intraday bullish correction.



Today’s trading range is projected to be between the support level of 1.0420 and the resistance level of 1.0570. The market trend for today is expected to be bearish.