The Asia session opens beneath a lengthening shadow, as Tokyo finds itself center stage in a drama not of its own making. Nikkei futures are under pressure, down 0.8%, following Trump’s unambiguous declaration: there will be no extension of the July 9 tariff pause. The 90-day reprieve—once seen as breathing space—now looks more like a…
In financial markets, the Hong Kong dollar is known as a “widow-maker”, a ruinous trade that inflicts painful losses on successive generations of investors. While betting against Japanese government bonds has been the most notorious widow-maker trade, challenges to Hong Kong’s currency peg to the US dollar date back to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis…
(Bloomberg) — As US stock prices tumbled this month, John Sidawi, a fund manager at Federated Hermes, noticed something strange. Most Read from Bloomberg The dollar, long a go-to hiding place during market selloffs, wasn’t rallying this time as investors rushed for safety. It was sinking, too, and fast as hot money poured into gold,…
Crypto prices jump after Trump sets plan for US strategic reserve Prices for bitcoin and the like have soared after Donald Trump set out plans for a U.S. cryptocurrency reserve. He said in a social media post that the stockpile would include bitcoin and ether, as well as smaller tokens XRP, solana and cardano. President…
Here is what you need to know on Friday, January 17: Markets remain in a cautiously optimistic mood, digesting the stronger-than-expected Chinese growth and activity data, while staying nervous before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugaration and amid looming tariffs. China’s economy expanded by 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024, exceeding the market’s expectation of…
US Dollar dealt bad hand as market considers higher initial Fed rate cut. Market prices in high odds of a 50 bps cut at Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. Fed Dot Plot unlikely to validate an aggressive rate path. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the USD against a basket of six currencies,…