The good news about the US economy – higher-than-expected retail sales, consumer optimism – offset fears about the Fed's impending tapering in a days-long tug of war (the two-day meeting takes place on Tuesday and next Wednesday). The result is a roughly stable MSCI Asia Pacific regional index. A stability which in any case entails a loss of around 1% on last week.
The fact of the day is the fall of the Australian dollar in the face of the unusual verbal intervention of the governor of the Reserve Bank. But the yen has also weakened and is close to the threshold of 104 against the dollar: the usual correlation has led the Nikkei to rise by 1%.
Gold, which had attempted a rebound in recent days, has returned, like Sisyphus' rock, to its starting point, and is at 1226 $/ounce. Oil is stable, at 97,4 $/b (WTI – Brent at 108,6).
