Morning wrap (15.11.2021)

• Stock in Asia traded mostly higher at the beginning of a new week. Kospi, S&P/ASX 200 and Nikkei gained while equities in China pulled back

• US and European index futures are trading a touch below Friday's cash closing levels

• US Senate Majority Leader Schumer asked President Biden to release strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) to ease gasoline prices

• According to chief editor of Chinese state-owned media Global Times, Australia risks being a target of heavy attack if it helps defend Taiwan

• RBNZ Chief Economist Yuong Ha will leave the central bank in 2022 after 25 years

• Fed's Kashkari said that inflation is causing some pain but he still believes it to prove to be transitory

• Next Japanese stimulus package is expected to exceed 40 trillion JPY and will include direct cash handouts, aid for businesses as well as wage hikes for public sector workers

• The Japanese economy shrank 0.8% QoQ in Q3 2021 (exp. -0.2% QoQ). On an annualized basis growth was -3% YoY (exp. -0.8% YoY)

• Chinese industrial production increased 3.5% YoY in October (exp. 3.0% YoY). Retail sales were 4.9% YoY higher (exp. 3.5% YoY) while urban investments increased 6.1% YoY (exp. 6.3% YoY)

• Bitcoin recovered from last week's declines and climbed back above the $65,000 mark

• Precious metals, industrial metals and oil trader lower

• AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while USD and JPY lag the most

Calls on US President Biden to release SPR mount and White House said that it is currently exploring every tool that could help bring gasoline prices down. While tapping into reserves could help bring down prices in the short-term, its long-term impact on the oil market will not be significant. Source: xStation5