Asian markets

These values (courtesy of Bloomberg) are prior to Asian markets opening on Wed.

The ¥, probably the most important Asian currency, is 98 to the $. In the last few days, it weakened even more to 99, then rallied to mid 90s & now is back at 98. The weaker ¥ is a very important to the Japanese economy, which is in a severe recession, because exports are so crucial.

Oil & gold prices are always important in the world economies. As said in the prior post, it looks like gold is searching for new 2009 highs above 54.

These bond yields may be new to some investors. Australia has the only yield higher than the US (at 2.65%).


CURRENCIES

	VALUE	CHANGE	% CHANGE
USD-JPY	98.1370	0.2755	0.28
USD-HKD	7.7501	0.0000	0.00
USD-SGD	1.5114	-0.0028	-0.18
AUD-USD	0.6982	0.0026	0.37

COMMODITY FUTURES

	VALUE	CHANGE	% CHANGE
Oil	53.60	-0.38	-0.70
Gold	932.00	6.00	0.65
Natural Gas	4.34	-0.00	-0.05

BONDS

	PRICE	YIELD
10-Year Japan	100.36	1.27
10-Year Hong Kong	97.26	1.94
10-Year Singapore	116.67	2.05
10-Year Australia	106.66	4.43

JP Morgan losses & oil prices sink stocks

Dow is down 107, decliners over advancers 3-2 & NAZ is down 10. The chart below keeps track of movements in the Dow.

There is a lot of news getting investors nervous. Fighting between Russia & Georgia led to closing a pipeline sending oil up 1½ to 116. The Alerian MLP index is up 1 to 263, still flirting with its yearly lows.

JPMorgan (JPM) lost $1½B ALREADY in Q3 from credit crisis problems, stock down 2½. Obviously, financials are weak, can't get back to that 302 recovery level achieved a couple of weeks ago.


S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 289.95

Change -9.62

% Change-3.2%

Tomorrow July retail sales are due, they should be glum. Also, oil has not been the only commodity to pull back in the last few weeks. The entire commodity complex, grains, metals, etc. have all pulled back sharply from their peaks. However like with oil, prices remain at high & troublesome levels. Inflation threats & worries remain.