A Thumbnail Sketch of the Capital Markets
Marc Chandler submits:
The Bank of England left rates on hold as widely expected and despite the string of relatively good bank earnings reports continuing today, sterling is lagging, though many still look for a test on the $1.60 area. The ECB meeting, and more importantly, Trichet’s press conference is the main focus ahead of tomorrow’s US employment report. Stepped up verbal comments from Japanese officials may have helped keep the dollar in a narrow 25 tick range on either side of JPY86.25 thus far today.
Asian equities are more mixed than the 0.6% rise in the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index would suggest. The pullback in the yen encouraged short-covering in some of the Japanese multinationals, helping the Nikkei recoup the lion’s share of yesterday’s losses with a 1.7% advance today.
