Morning wrap (18.11.2022)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading slightly lower following hawkish comments from Fed members. S&P 500 dropped 0.31%, Dow Jones moved 0.02% lower and Nasdaq declined 0.35%. Russell 2000 dropped 0.76%

• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today. Nikkei and Nifty 50 dropped while S&P/ASX 200 and Kospi gained slightly. Indices from China traded mixed

• DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of the European cash session today

• Leaders of Japan, the United States and South Korea will hold an emergency meeting after North Korea launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. ICBM landed 200 km off the coast of Japan but inside a Japanese exclusive economic zone. It is said that it had enough capacity to reach US mainland

• People's Bank of China Advisor Liu said that China should target GDP growth of around 5% in 2023

• Japanese CPI inflation accelerated from 3.0 to 3.7% YoY in October, reaching a 40-year high. Core CPI inflation accelerated from 3.0 to 3.6% YoY (exp. 3.5% YoY)

• BoJ Governor Kuroda that inflation may accelerate further in the coming months before it starts to cool off

• According to Wall Street Journal and Reuters, cryptocurrency lender Genesis sought for a $1 billion emergency loan due to a liquidity crunch before making a decision to halt transfers and withdrawals

• Cryptocurrencies trade slightly higher this morning with Bitcoin gaining 0.3% and Ethereum trading 0.7% higher

• Oil is trading little changed on the day while precious metals post small gains

• NZD and GBP are the best performing major currencies while CHF and CAD lag the most

While Bank of Japan remains dovish, CPI spike to a 40-year high led to some hawkish calls from market participants. This is supporting yen today with USDJPY attempting to break back below 140.00 mark. Source: xStation5