Asia: Gold, USD, Crude Oil, Stocks & Commodities

$GLD, $SLV, $USO, $OIL, $CORN, $WEAT, $SOY, $USD

FLASH: Gold Up, USD Flat, Crude Oil Off, Stocks Off

Headlines

• JPY holds gains, traders seek safety
• Crude Oil prices steady after big fall on recession concerns, inventory rise
• Stocks feel pain, as bond markets talk recession
• Gold gains as recession fears drive safe-haven demand

Gold: Gold prices rose Thursday, as investors flocked to safer havens after an inverted US bond yield curve pointed to new recession fears following poor economic data from Germany and China.

• Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,519.51 oz as of 0522 GMT,
• US gold futures gained 0.2% to $1,530.50 oz.

We are seeing flight to safety, market confidence is shaky, the economy is showing signs of weakness and it’s starting to slow in 2-H of this year.

A successful breakout at $1,525 oz will see gold Bulls make an attempt on previous highs at $1,535.

Energy: Crude Oil prices steadied Thursday, following sharp overnight losses as US inventories unexpectedly rose, fears of recession mounted and economic data out of China and Europe disappointed.

• ICE Brent Crude LCOc1 was down 13c, or 0.2%, at $59.35 bbl by 0643 GMT,
• NYMEX WTI Crude Oil CLc1 was up 5c or 0.1%, at $55.28 bbl.

Crude Oil prices, though supported by OPEC-led production curbs face severe headwinds as traders swing between demand-side worries and supply curtailment policies

Equities: Asian stocks extended a punishing sell-off Thursday as investors feared an historic drop in long-term US T-Bond yields might augur a recession globally.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares sans Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 0.7% and tapped a 7-month low.

Japan’s Nikkei average .N225 was off 1.3%, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite .SSEC lost 0.4% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng .HSI wa flat on the day.

The major US stock indexes fell about 3% Wednesday, with the blue-chip DJIA posting its biggest 1-day point fall since October 2018.

Currencies: JPY held gains against major currencies Thursday as sliding US Treasury yields fanned fears of a global economic downturn and drove investors into safe-haven assets.

USD was little changed at 105.90 JPY in Asian trading Thursday. On Wednesday, the JPY rallied 0.8% versus the Buck, its biggest daily gainer in 2 weeks.

.DXY, stood at 97.914 after a 0.2% gainer Wednesday.

The Swiss franc CHF=EBS last traded at 0.9735, holding on to a 0.3% gainer posted Wednesday.

GBP was little changed at $1.2069. The GBP has been in a tight trading range recently due to lingering uncertainties about whether Britain will exit the EU without transitional trading agreements.

The Aussie AUD=D3 rose 0.5% to $0.6786 after data showed the Australian economy added a forecast-busting 41,100 new jobs in July.

Commodities (quotes): Metals, Energy, and Agriculture Grains

Stay tuned…