As of Fri, May 17, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
Dollar Index +0.28%, 97.84
USDJPY, +0.39%, $109.89
EURUSD, -0.31%, $1.1173
GBPUSD, -0.39%, $1.2796
USDCAD, +0.16%, $1.3464
AUDUSD, -0.51%, $0.6892
NZDUSD, -0.43%, $0.6534
Better than expected US economic prints helped with risk appetite as housing starts and building permits recovered from last month’s declines. Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region also accelerated more than expected while jobless claims fell. Housing starts increased 5.7% m/m in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million (consensus 1.21 mln). The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for May jumped to 16.6 (consensus 10). Firms were more optimistic about hiring plans over the next six months, which suggests they expect end demand to remain solid.
In trade, the White House and US Department of Commerce took steps that would ban Huawei from selling technology into the American market, and could also prevent it from buying semiconductors from suppliers including Qualcomm in the US that are crucial for its production. US chipmaker Qualcomm, which earns around 5 per cent of its revenues from Huawei, saw its share price drop 4% to close at $82.81 on Thursday despite a broadly positive market. Shares in Broadcom, another supplier, fell 2.3% to $297.29. The US Department of Commerce said it would put Huawei on its so-called Entity List, meaning that the American companies will have to obtain a licence from the US government to sell technology to Huawei. At the same time, Trump signed an executive order declaring the US telecoms sector faced a “national emergency” — giving the commerce department the power to “prohibit transactions posing an unacceptable risk” to national security.
U.S. Treasuries retreated on Thursday. The 2-yr yield increased four basis points to 2.20%, and the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.41%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.28% to 97.84. WTI crude rose 1.5% to $62.99/bbl.
Aussie dropped to 4 month lows on the back of disappointing labor data. Although 28.4K jobs were created last month, which was more than the consensus forecast of 15.2K, investors were not happy that all of those jobs were part time. Full time jobs fell -6.3K, pushing the unemployment rate up to 5.2% (Consensus 5.0%).
S&P500, +0.89%, 2,876.32
Nasdaq, +1.02%, 7,580.14
Nikkei Futures, +0.49%, 21,263.0
U.S. stocks advanced for the third straight session on Thursday, boosted by positive earnings reports fromCisco Systems (CSCO 55.93, +3.49, +6.7%) and Wal-Mart (WMT 101.31, +1.43, +1.4%). The 0.89% gain in the S&P 500 helped the benchmark index reclaim its 50-day moving average (2866) on a closing basis. Boeing (BA 353.81, +8.17, +2.4%) was a notable standout. Shares received a late-session boost after the company said it has “flown the 737 MAX with updated MCAS software for more than 360 hours on 207 flights.”