Asian markets have seen a much needed respite in early trading on Monday, with a somewhat cautious bullish approach emerging after a recent relief from the US China trade talks. A recent report has confirmed that China’s President Xi Jinping will be attending the G-20 summit in Japan this week, where he is expected to talk on the side with US president Donald Trump to ease rising trade tensions. US Vice president Mike Pence on Friday announced that they had caked off planned talks with China, which we assume was to clear the way for a more personal face to face talk between the countries leaders. With the news that President Jinping will be talking to Trump at G-20 the Hang Seng Index saw an advance of 0.4% while the shanghai composite rose a firm 0.3% and the smaller cap Shenzhen Comp rose just under 0.1%.
Although the gains are somewhat small, it has been a much needed boost after recent times, the US Dollar saw a rise of 0.12% against the Japanese Yen late in trading on Friday. This coming after the Dollar/Yen made declines as low as 107.045 on Friday, the lowest recorded levels since a huge crash for the currency on January 3rd. Weekly gains for US stocks, saw that major averages finished lower on Friday amid growing tensions between Iran and the US, however the DOW is currently looking at having its best June in the last eighty years, this being further boosted by the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement, which as a whole has reduced the risks on all markets.
All three benchmark indexes saw gains for the third consecutive week, with the S&P500 coming in with a 2.2% rise, followed by the Dow who climbed a respectable 2.4% and the NASDAQ leading the charge with gains of 3%. If the markets continue on the same path, and can hold its position on their month to date gains this coming week, the Dow is set to have its strongest performance for June since 1938, and at the same time the S&P could have its best June since 1955. The NASDAQ is set for a record breaking month also, with the potential to see its biggest June jump since the year 2000. Also while the markets rise, Crude oil is standing strong, which has held its near three week highs that were hit just last week.
Brendan Gower – AMT Associates
