Dollar steady, keeping USD/JPY close to ¥150

USD/JPY

The USD strength keeps the heat up on the yen, which, around the same time, hit $149.69 for one dollar. The JPY is trying to find support as traders try to anticipate the tipping point for the Japanese authorities. Overnight, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki repeated his warning against speculative moves on the JPY.

"It's desirable for currencies to move stably, and excessive volatility is undesirable. If excessive volatility arises, we won't rule out any options and will respond appropriately. To achieve that end, we are carefully monitoring moves with a sense of urgency." The fact remains that analysts are sceptical about whether the intervention could alter the tide of yen weakening given the divergence in monetary policy between the United States and Japan.

Eurozone economic sentiment

At 10 a.m., eurozone economic sentiment is expected to worsen in September, down to 92.5 from 93.3 the previous month. A bit later, at 1 p.m., the German consumer price index is forecast to rise 'only' by 4.6% in September, decelerating from the 6.1% recorded in August. This would be the lowest Consumer Products (CP) growth since February 2022. Over in the In the US, the market awaits a final reading of the Q2 gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, initial jobless claims, and pending home sales.

HSBC

HSBC is set to acquire Citigroup's China has a consumer wealth management business that manages more than $3 billion in assets. Reuters is quoting two sources with knowledge of the matter and says it's a major boost to the London-based bank's business in China. The transaction, the financial details of which were not immediately known, will also see Asia-focused HSBC taking over "a few hundred" of Citi's China-based staff.

Shell

Things are hotting up at Shell. Last June, Shell CEO Wael Sawan outlined at an investor day plans to slow investment in renewables and low-carbon businesses as part of a strategy to boost returns. Reuters had access to an open internal message from two employees urging the Shell boss not to scale back investments in renewable energy. "For a long time, it has been Shell's ambition to be a leader in the energy transition. It is the reason we work here.

The recent announcements at and after the capital markets day deeply concern us. We can only hope the optics of the CMD announcements are deceiving us and that Shell continues its path as a leader in the energy transition..

Micron Technology

Micron Technology, an all-session stock on the IG platform, fell in extended trading after forecasting a wider than expected loss for the current quarter. Micron reported a loss for the fourth quarter of $1.07 per share, beating analysts' expectations for a $1.18 loss. Revenue stood at $4.01 billion, compared with estimates of $3.89 billion.

After calling the bottom in the memory-chip market three months ago, Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts last night that the company expects "several hundred million" dollars worth of revenue from its new high-bandwidth chips next year. Micron is currently working with Nvidia to qualify its newest high-bandwidth memory chips for use in Nvidia's computing chips.

Nike

Three months ago, NIKE promised the market another year of "profitable growth". Yet, this appears to be a difficult start to the year. Nike earnings are expected to decline for a third quarter in a row to 75 cents per share, from 93 cents a year ago. Revenue is forecast to rise by 2.5% to $13.01 billion.

This would be the slowest growth in over a year. Investors will be very attentive to revenue per region. With a North American market that remains soft, Nike relies on other markets to keep revenue coming, such as Latin America and especially China, where it expects revenue growth to accelerate.

WTI crude

WTI reached $94 for the first time since August 30 of last year. Yesterday afternoon, the Energy Information Administration ( ElA) said US crude stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels last week. Crude stocks at the Cushing storage hub fell by 943,000 barrels to just under 22 million barrels, the lowest since July. 2022.

Stockpiles at Cushing have been falling closer to historic low levels due to strong refining and export demand. This prompts concerns about the quality of the remaining oil at the hub and whether it will fall below minimum operating levels.