- Wall Street indices finished yesterday's trading higher - S&P 500 gained 0.52%, Dow Jones moved 0.12% higher, Nasdaq jumped 0.90% and small-cap Russell 2000 added 0.71%
- Indices from Asia-Pacific traded higher today - S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6%, Nifty 50 jumped 1.3% and indices from China traded up to 0.9% higher. Japanese Nikkei rallied 1.9% today and tested 40,000 pts area for the first time in history
- European index futures point to a higher opening of the cash session on the Old Continent, with DAX futures trading above 17,800 pts for the first time in history
- BoJ Governor Ueda said that Japanese economy is not yet in a situation where sustained achievement of 2% inflation can be foreseen
- RBNZ Governor Orr said that New Zealand economy is evolving as anticipated, but inflation is still too high. However, Orr noted that inflation is falling, and inflation expectations have fallen as well
- RBNZ Deputy Governor Hawkesby said that monetary policy in New Zealand is going to be restrictive for some time as it is needed to ensure inflation expectations anchor at 2%
- Official Chinese manufacturing PMI ticked lower from 49.2 to 49.1 in February (exp. 49.1), marking the fifth consecutive month of contraction. Non-manufacturing improved from 50.7 to 51.4 (exp. 50.8)
- Private Chinese manufacturing PMI (Caixin) ticked higher from 50.8 to 50.9 in February (exp. 50.7)
- Australian final manufacturing PMI for February was revised from 47.7 to 47.8
- Japanese final manufacturing PMI for February was confirmed at 47.2, the lowest level since August 2020
- Japanese unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 2.4% in January (exp. 2.4%)
- New Zealand building permits declined 8.8% MoM in January. On an annual basis, build permits were 28.3% YoY lower
- Cryptocurrencies are trading higher today, but gains on major coin lag those of altcoins. Bitcoin trades 0.4% higher, Ripple adds 0.6%, Ethereum gains 1.8% and Dogecoin rallies over 3%
- Energy commodities trade higher - oil gains 0.3% while US natural gas prices trade 1.2% higher
- Precious metals gain - gold and platinum add 0.1%, silver trades 0.3% higher and palladium jumps 0.8%
- AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while JPY and CHF lag the most
Japanese Nikkei (JAP225) tested 40,000 pts area today for the first time in history! Source: xStation5