Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Market Update - 5 Sept 2012
US Manufacturing is flat lining according to the ISM manufacturing PMI, which fell to 49.6 from 49.8, making for a 3rd straight monthly contraction. Drilling down, the figures look very bleak indeed: new orders, including those for export dropped, while inventories rose and the employment stat fell.
In Europe the PPI also showed healthy bounce (ermmmmm……) as oil and other commodities rose, however again the implications for monetary policy are not so good.
USDMYR had a dip late yesterday evening with Ringgit appreciating with suspect from offshore buying, but range is still stuck at 3.1000-3.1500
The ECB’s sitting German member Joerg Asmussen declared the fractured nature of the Euro Zone (vis a vis sovereign yield) was unacceptable and that the ECB was within its mandate to buy Spanish debt because it was necessary to save the single currency.
Maraino Rajoy will travel to Berlin for talks with Angela Merkel today where they will discuss potential terms of a fully blown bailout, while confidence grew that the ECB will outline plans to purchase Spanish debt on the secondary market out to 3yrs.
The odds have increased that the Spanish will be forced into a full blown bailout and it’s a question of how quietly they come. If Rajoy holds out then we can expect more tension in the markets which will eventuate in Spain requesting aid, which will be Merkel’s argument to the Spanish leader.
The Euro pulled back from a technical level at 1.2630 and is down at 1.2565 last and stocks across the board were weaker with the Euro Stoxx 50 down 1.08%, the DOW down 0.42% and the S&P off 0.12%. Bigger losses were averted thanks to Apple (+1.45%), whose shares led tech stocks higher into the close, materials stocks were hit the hardest. Oil fell 0.87% while safe haven bonds were a touch softer.
Monday, 3 September 2012
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Study: Tapioca pearls in bubble tea contain carcinogens
Study: Tapioca pearls in bubble tea contain carcinogens
Aug 30, 2012
BERLIN, Aug30 — German health authorities and researchers have come out swinging recently against the Taiwanese drink bubble tea, warning that the popular dessertbeverage presents a choking hazard to children and may contain cancer-causingchemicals.
The warnings, released separately, come as Europe — and Germany in particular — begin to catch on to thebubble tea trend which has already swept major urban centres in North America to become a popular dessert beverage.
After analysing the tapioca balls which make up the “bubbles” in the drink,researchers from the University Hospital Aachen, for instance, found that the pearls contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) — such as styrene,acetophenone, and brominated substances — chemicals that shouldn’t be in food at all, researchers told German paper The Local.
Samples were taken from an unnamed chain in Mönchengladbach, in northwest Germany and the tapioca balls were made in Taiwan.
The study comes on the heels of a public health warning from the country’s German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment earlier this month, which warned that the tapioca balls also present a choking risk to children.
“Especially with children aged up to four years, there is a risk of foreign objects accidentally entering the lungs,” said Dr Andreas Hensel in a statement.
“And that is precisely what can happen when the bubbles are sucked up through a straw.”
Meanwhile, the institute says no bubble tea-related accidents have yet been reported. — AFP-Relax news
Aug 30, 2012
BERLIN, Aug30 — German health authorities and researchers have come out swinging recently against the Taiwanese drink bubble tea, warning that the popular dessertbeverage presents a choking hazard to children and may contain cancer-causingchemicals.
The warnings, released separately, come as Europe — and Germany in particular — begin to catch on to thebubble tea trend which has already swept major urban centres in North America to become a popular dessert beverage.
After analysing the tapioca balls which make up the “bubbles” in the drink,researchers from the University Hospital Aachen, for instance, found that the pearls contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) — such as styrene,acetophenone, and brominated substances — chemicals that shouldn’t be in food at all, researchers told German paper The Local.
Samples were taken from an unnamed chain in Mönchengladbach, in northwest Germany and the tapioca balls were made in Taiwan.
The study comes on the heels of a public health warning from the country’s German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment earlier this month, which warned that the tapioca balls also present a choking risk to children.
“Especially with children aged up to four years, there is a risk of foreign objects accidentally entering the lungs,” said Dr Andreas Hensel in a statement.
“And that is precisely what can happen when the bubbles are sucked up through a straw.”
Meanwhile, the institute says no bubble tea-related accidents have yet been reported. — AFP-Relax news
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Market Update - 29 August 2012
· Another choppy session with stock sending flat to lower and treasuries grinding higher in the US.
· USD MYR still trading in its3.1000-3.1500 range after last week’s false break below 3.1000, expecting thin trading volume today with a tight range of 3.1050-3.1250
· US data was mixed with the CB consumer confidence figure falling to 60.6 from 65.4 in July,surprising markets but not reading as poorly as it did in 2011 when it reach eda low of 40.
· The S&P Case Shiller HPI show edits first annual gain since Sep 2010, adding to the growing positives from the US housing market. Finally the Richmond Fed manufacturing index bounced from -17 to -9,rounding off what on balance was seen as a positive for QE as the dollar sold off.
· David Riley, director of sovereign ratings Fitch rating agency also warned that the US fiscal cliff posed “real concerns” and that the AAA rating was at risk of a downgrade in H1 2013.
· Money supply figures out of Europe gave the currency there a shot in the arm and is a good sign for Europe, M3 rising at an annual rate of 3.8%. The measure has been rising steadily since the end of last year (post LTRO1).
· News that Mario Draghi will not beat tending the Jackson Hole event this weekend due to a heavy workload permeated markets. The next ECB meeting is on the 6th Sep and as we know they are furiously working on measures to handle the sovereign bond buying program, more rumours abound overnight.
· Catalonia is to seek €5bnfrom the central government. This was expected and had been flagged before but the headline perhaps just spooking markets somewhat. Meanwhile Spanish GDP was confirmed as falling by 1.3% on an annual basis. Spanish 10yr yields blew out 10bps to 6.48%
· USD MYR still trading in its3.1000-3.1500 range after last week’s false break below 3.1000, expecting thin trading volume today with a tight range of 3.1050-3.1250
· US data was mixed with the CB consumer confidence figure falling to 60.6 from 65.4 in July,surprising markets but not reading as poorly as it did in 2011 when it reach eda low of 40.
· The S&P Case Shiller HPI show edits first annual gain since Sep 2010, adding to the growing positives from the US housing market. Finally the Richmond Fed manufacturing index bounced from -17 to -9,rounding off what on balance was seen as a positive for QE as the dollar sold off.
· David Riley, director of sovereign ratings Fitch rating agency also warned that the US fiscal cliff posed “real concerns” and that the AAA rating was at risk of a downgrade in H1 2013.
· Money supply figures out of Europe gave the currency there a shot in the arm and is a good sign for Europe, M3 rising at an annual rate of 3.8%. The measure has been rising steadily since the end of last year (post LTRO1).
· News that Mario Draghi will not beat tending the Jackson Hole event this weekend due to a heavy workload permeated markets. The next ECB meeting is on the 6th Sep and as we know they are furiously working on measures to handle the sovereign bond buying program, more rumours abound overnight.
· Catalonia is to seek €5bnfrom the central government. This was expected and had been flagged before but the headline perhaps just spooking markets somewhat. Meanwhile Spanish GDP was confirmed as falling by 1.3% on an annual basis. Spanish 10yr yields blew out 10bps to 6.48%
Monday, 27 August 2012
Dollar Remains Higher Against Yen Before U.S. Manufacturing Data
By Masaki Kondo and Kristine Aquino
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar remained higher following a two-day advance against the yen before U.S. reports that economists say will point to improvement in consumer sentiment and regional manufacturing.
The greenback also maintained a gain versus the euro before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke delivers a speech on Aug. 31 at the Kansas City Fed's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Demand for the euro was limited ahead of German data forecast to show consumer sentiment will fall for the first time in three months.
"The market may be open for disappointment" at Jackson Hole, said Derek Mumford, a director in Sydney at Rochford Capital, a currency risk-management company. "Assuming there won't be significant quantitative easing, then the U.S. dollar could have quite a strong performance in the
next couple of months."
The dollar traded at 78.77 as of 7:54 a.m. in Tokyo after rising 0.3 percent in the past two sessions to 78.74 yesterday. It was little changed at $1.2504 per euro after a 0.1 percent gain in New York. The common currency traded at 98.47 yen after losing 0.2 percent since Aug. 23 to 98.43.
The Fed Bank of Richmond is forecast to say today that its factory index for the region advanced to minus 10 this month from minus 17 in July, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A reading of less than zero signals contraction.
Confidence Improving
A gauge of U.S. consumer confidence probably rose to 66 in August, the highest since April, from 65.9 last month, a separate poll of economists shows. The Conference Board is scheduled to release the data today.
Bernanke probably won't use his Aug. 31 speech in Jackson Hole to suggest a third round of bond buying is at hand, according to economists including Michael Feroli at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York and James O'Sullivan at Valhalla, New York-based High Frequency Economics. Fed policy makers, who meet next on Sept. 12-13, are closely monitoring unemployment and other data and have been divided about whether to spur expansion.
GfK's index of German consumer sentiment is likely to decline to 5.8 in September from 5.9 this month, according to economist projections taken before the market research company reports the figure today.
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