Morning Memo: Thursday, August 22, 2013

"Morning Memo" begins below this "NOTE for  NEWCOMERS" to "Morning Memo"...... Each morning, we post a short bullet-point list of noteworthy events, data, etc that find their way into the assessment of global markets.  It's far from complete and is not meant to be an exhaustive reconciliation of all things that could possibly impact stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities!  Rather, it's best viewed as a cryptic memo of "highlights", noteworthy items that took place in Asia, European and US hours.....and color-coded 'Red' for seemingly negative impact on equity markets, 'Green' for positive.
This will also serve as a useful review mechanism, as scrolling through the series of "Morning Memo" posts over time ought to summarily highlight what generally drove price action.  
We hope you find this useful and informative....and as always, that you'll share feedback!!
5:30am, ET....

• Asia markets...mixed after Wednesday's post Fed Minutes sell-off in the US which took the Dow down over 100 points.  Good PMI data in China helped offset some of the Fed tapering pressures.
• China..HSBC/Markit prelim PMI data stronger than expected @ 50.1 (a four month high)  vs 48 exp.  PMI reading rebounds from July's 11-mth low of 47.7.
• Aussie Dollar, after suffering on Wed re Fed tapering fears, rebounded off the day's lows on China data.  The USD had been generally strong on Wed due to Fed tapering talk in the Fed Minutes.
• Asian currencies...downside pressure continues.  Indonesia's Rupiah drops hard in early hours though recovered a bit off the lows.  India's Rupee  and Thailand's Bhat too under pressure.
• Philippines...after a being closed for a three day holiday, the equity market opens down over 6%.
• Europe..trading higher on stronger than expected Markit Prelim Composite PMI data, hitting 51.7 in August, a 26-month high.  The Manufacturing component also hit a 26-month high.  Strength in Germany leads the pack.
• Bonds...yields generally higher in Europe on the heels of yesterday's post Fed Minutes sell-off in US Tsys which pushed 10yr Trsys closer to 3%, currently 2.92%
• US..Jobless Claims...higher than expected @ 336k vs 329 exp, BUT  4-week moving average lowest since '07!!   (chart from CalculatedRiskBlog.com)
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• more later...

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