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Breakfast Bites - Fri Sep 29, 2023

Rise and shine everyone and Happy Friday.


The big news today is the release of US PCE inflation data - with everyone expecting a 3-handle on the core PCE number. The data is out at 8:30am ET.


Meanwhile, we’ve received the inflation numbers out of the Eurozone. We got a nice dip on Eurozone inflation from 5.2% to 4.3% at the headline level. Core inflation came in at 4.5% from 5.3%.


We have a busy weekend with the looming government shutdown on Oct 1. Odds are still favoring a shutdown as of now, and several events have been rescheduled from next week to Saturday, since the shutdown will potentially start at midnight.


US equity futures closed higher yesterday - possibly a relief rally driven by the anticipation of lower inflation numbers. We may see some continuation today. It’s PCE day, the month-end and Friday options expiration. Yields have pulled back from highs but the Yield Curve still remains steeper at -0.49%. Crude Oil and the USD Index have also pulled back from their highs settling at $91/bbl and $105.70 respectively. Gold and Bitcoin are higher.


Asia and Australia

  • Asian equities higher Friday. Hang Seng outperforming amid rally in tech stocks. Nikkei flat while ASX logging slight gain. Mainland Chinese and other Asian markets offline for Golden Week holiday.

  • Tokyo core CPI rose 2.5% YoY in September, slightly below consensus 2.6% and follows 2.5% in the previous month. Ex-fresh food & energy inflation also softened to 3.8% from 4.0%.

  • Japan’s Industrial production was unchanged in August, compared to expectations of a 0.8% decline, following 1.8% drop in the previous month.

  • Japanese Government Bonds are set for the worst quarterly sell off since 1998, losing -3% during this quarter.

  • Over the weekend, we have the official NBS Chinese PMI data and the Caixin PMI data - both important data points to keep track of.


Europe, Middle East, Africa

  • European equity markets higher. Follows broadly firmer levels in Asia.

  • Final UK GDP Growth rate came in at 0.2% QoQ, in line with consensus. YoY GDP Growth came in at 0.6%, higher than consensus of 0.4%.

  • German retail sales missed expectations in August, with a 1.2% MoM drop versus consensus for 0.5% expansion and prior 0% reading, revised up from the 0.8% drop initially reported.

  • UK business confidence slips lower in September. The UK Lloyds business barometer slipped lower in September, down five points to 36% after hitting an 18-month high of 41% in August


The Americas

  • The final GDP growth data remained unchanged at +2.1% annualized for Q2, while the consumption growth was notably adjusted downward to +0.8%, both falling short of expectations. But the report was largely positive. The yearly amendments led to a more robust multi-year GDP trend and an enhanced multi-year and recent trend for gross domestic income.

  • Initial jobless claims for the week to 23-Sep of 204K beat consensus for 215K, while last week revised up 1K to 202K. Continuing claims for week to 16-Sep 1.670M below consensus for 1.675M, while last week revised to 1.658M from 1.662M.

  • New NYC law states Uber, Grubhub, and Doordash must pay delivery drivers a minimum of $18/hr.

  • UAW now targeting 30% wage increase, down from initial demand of 40%

  • With shutdown looming GOP hardliners attempting to remove McCarthy from speakership as early as next week


SPX 200-day Moving Average of 4195 in Focus - Goldman Sachs shows that if the level doesn’t provide support, history suggests returns in the following month are significantly below average.




Calendar

(news taken from Reuters, FT, Bloomberg; Calendar from Trading Economics)



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