Morning wrap (26.01.2022)

• Wall Street indices finished yesterday's session lower. S&P 500 fell 1.22%, Dow Jones dropped 0.19% and Nasdaq moved 2.29% lower 

• Downbeat moods prevail on most Asian markets. Nikkei dropped 0.40%, S&P/ASX 200 plunged 2.49% and Kospi moved 0.23% lower while indexes from China struggle to find common direction. 

• DAX futures point to a higher opening of today's European cash session

• US president Biden threatens to sanction Vladimir Putin himself if he orders an invasion of Ukraine.

• Ukraine's envoy to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky says a full-scale war is very difficult to expect, but we may see more localized conflict

• China Evergrande Group will hold an investor call today at 1:00 pm GMT 

• Samsung announced that its semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Xian, China, have returned to normal operation

• China state media say not to overreact to the recent selloff

• API report showed that US crude stockpiles fell by 875,000 barrels last week

• Microsoft (MSFT.US) adjusted earnings: $2.48 per share well above market consensus of $2.31 per share. Revenue: $51.73 billion, vs. $50.88 billion as expected by analysts. Sales forecast that also exceeded estimates, while Azure cloud revenue barely matched analysts’ expectations.

• Japan PPI for December 2021 1.1% y/y (expected 1.1%, previous 1.1% y/y)

• Bitcoin continues to move higher and is trading above $36,500

• Precious metals trade mixed - gold trades flat, silver and palladium drops while platinum gain

• Oil trades slightly lower on the day with Brent struggling to break above $87.00 per barrel

• CAD and AUD are the best performing major currencies while USD and JPY lag the most. Moves are limited as investors brace themselves for today FED meeting

US100 finished yesterday’s session sharply lower, however some bullish activity can be observed today and the index managed to return above key support at 14073 pts. Source: xStation5