MILANO – A positive start is expected for the financial markets, in an eventful week that culminates with the appointment of Jackson Hole, the central bank symposium hosted by the US, at which investors await the Fed’s predient, Jerome Powell, called to give some more details on tapering, the end of extraordinary stimuli with the 120 billion share purchase plan per month.
the Asian stock exchanges have moved upwards, after the strong wave of sales last week: speculators have seized it as an opportunity to buy and have returned to pocket the stocks that had been heavily penalized by fears of a slowdown for the Delta variant and from the Chinese repression on some sectors of economic activity, starting with tech where the latest squeeze was represented by a regulation on privacy and personal data of unprecedented harshness. Tokyo closed this morning with a 1.78% recovery, while Hong Kong e Shanghai they are still open around + 1.4%. Futures on Europe and the US are also positive.
The day of greatest relaxation on the markets is also witnessed by the slight loss in value of US government bonds, with the yield on Treasuries which has started to rise again, and on the dollar, the traditional safe-haven asset in times of tension. L’euro in fact, it moves slightly higher to 1.171.
In the meantime, Bitcoin has returned to seeing 50,000 dollars. The cryptocurrency leader also records the opening of PayPal, the payments service, which has announced that it will allow its users in the UK for the first time to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency through its platform. There will be four crypto available: bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash. A new tab will be added to the PayPal platform, which shows currency prices in real time and includes information on cryptocurrencies, including potential risks, the American giant explained. The new service will start this week and will be available both through the PayPal app and on the website. The online payments giant said it hopes this will help improve understanding of how cryptocurrencies work.
What is working for the moment is the recovery of the price from the levels to which Bitcoin had plunged in the month of May. The currency peaked at nearly $ 65,000 in April, then began a rapid fall that more than halved its value between May and June. Driven at first by the avalanche of liquidity on the markets and by the fact that institutional operators have moved in force on the world of crypto, this type of asset has then paid some very negative comments on the environmental impact of blockchains and the squeeze launched by the China, which has literally blocked the business of mining, or the search for currencies through supercomputers that dig into the net. After the collapse, a recovery began that allowed Bitcoin to regain the levels of early May and the crypto complex to exceed the 2 trillion dollars capitalization threshold. According to Rick Bensignor, CEO of Bensignor Investment Strategies, Bitcoin is “approaching the high end of the range which I expect to be between 40 and 50 thousand dollars”.
Among the indications of the day, the focus is on Pmi indices of the manufacturing sector: the indicators that mark the economic trend thanks to the interview with the purchasing managers of the companies: the values above 50 points indicate the economic expansion. In August, Japan’s manufacturing PMI is estimated to fall to 51 points, according to data from IHS Markit. In the previous month, the index had stood at 51.8 points. However, a result above 50 indicates progress in the sector. Also in August, the services index fell to 43.5 points from 47.4 points in July; the composite, a synthesis of the two previous indices, stood at 45.9 points from the previous 48.8 points.
Among the raw materials, oro up on Asian markets: the precious metal with immediate delivery is trading at $ 1,786.74 per ounce (+ 0.3%). Silver and platinum are also progressing, while palladium falls by 2% after the worst weekly decline since March 2020. “Plus” sign also for oil: WTI crude oil for delivery in October is trading at 63.12 dollars a barrel (+ 1.3%). Brent was also strong, rising by 1.8% to 66.34 dollars a barrel.
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