CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Tue Oct 15th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, +0.02%, 98.45
USDJPY, -0.06%, $108.40
EURUSD, -0.02%, $1.1026
GBPUSD, -0.06%, $1.2609
USDCAD, +0.18%, $1.3227
AUDUSD, -0.29%, $0.6775
NZDUSD, -0.38%, $0.6304
U.S., Canadian and Japanese banks were closed on Monday.
Last week featured a torrent of headlines related to trade negotiations between officials from China and the U.S., so it wasn’t too surprising that the market remained focused on what was and wasn’t accomplished during Friday’s talks. Overnight reports in Chinese media spoke about last week’s negotiations in conservative terms, prompting worries that the signing of the “phase one” deal will remain elusive. These worries weighed on equity futures in early-morning trade, but a recovery took place after Trump and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin reiterated that the partial deal will be finalised and signed in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in mid-November.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is reducing the pace of the Singapore dollar’s appreciation “slightly”, in line with market expectations amid subdued growth and low inflation. MAS said it would lower slightly the slope of the Singapore dollar’s policy band, known as the nominal effective exchange rate or S$NEER, a shallower easing than some had expected (hence SGD strengthened). The width and level at which the band was centred were left unchanged. The last time MAS eased policy was in April 2016 when it was set at 0% on cloudy growth and inflation outlook.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, -0.14%, 2,966.15
Nasdaq, -0.10%, 8,048.65
Nikkei Futures, -0.02%, 22,087.5
The major averages began the week on a quiet note. The S&P 500 shed 0.14% after spending the day in a ten-point range. Nine out of eleven sectors settled in the red, but only three sectors—materials (-0.8%), utilities (-0.7%), and consumer staples (-0.4%)—lost more than 0.2%. On the flip side, financials (+0.1%) and real estate (+0.1%) eked out slim gains.
Bank stocks like Citigroup (C 70.24, +0.14, +0.2%), Goldman Sachs (GS 205.82, +1.14, +0.6%), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 116.45, +0.31, +0.3%), and Wells Fargo (WFC 49.27, +0.06, +0.1%) outperformed modestly leading up to the release of their Q3 results tomorrow morning.