Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog,
Highlighting the deteriorating trend in Chinese corporate financials has been an annual feature our of this blog. This year, instead of looking at just the CSI 300 constituents, we chose to broaden our universe by using the FTSE All A Share Index, an index of about 2000 Chinese A shares. This should give us the most accurate read on the state of corporate China.
Another new week, another day with not much going on. So much, or rather little so, that in its daily wrap Citi starts off with the following: "Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol, who once said “I like boring things”, would have been a huge fan of today’s session thus far. Though several events of note linger on the horizon for later this week, G10 is firmly on the beach as of this morning."
It was another painfully low-volume overnight session, which however did not prevent global stocks from hitting another record highs, capping their best week in over two months as the dollar stayed close to nine-month lows following Yellen's dovish retreat in which she noted caution on persistently low inflation (hence today's CPI print will be especially important) as odds of future rate hikes in 2017 and 2018 dropped.
The dollar was broadly weaker after dovish comments from Fed Governor Lael Brainard amid reverberations from reports of Donald Trump Jr.’s contact with a Russian lawyer; European equities rebounded with oil while S&P futures were 0.2% higher at 2,428; Treasury yields are 1-2bps lower across the curve with the 10y at 2.346% ahead of Yellen’s much anticipated testimony this morning (House today, Senate tomorrow) for further clues on the trajectory of monetary policy while the Bank of Canada is expected to hike rates later.
U.S. index futures point slightly lower open. Asian shares rose while stocks in Europe fell as energy producers got caught in a downdraft in oil prices and reversed an earlier gain after Goldman unexpectedly warned that WTI could slide below $40 absent "show and awe" from OPEC. The dollar rose, hitting a four-month high against the yen and bonds and top emerging market currencies were back under pressure on Tuesday, following last week’s hawkish rhetoric from central bankers.