by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
Yes, the Hang Seng lost 1% and Shanghai was lower by 0.5% but the volatility was in the Nikkei that managed to reverse the opening trend with a healthy bounce. Many traders tell us they feel something is hovering in the wings and are therefore taking very few overnight positions! However, the day was generally heavy and so we saw Europe open with a negative bias.
European stocks opened marginally weaker, on the back of oil’s price decline but it was the credit markets that most influenced stocks as government started to slip. Recent fixed-income issuance is starting to have an impact outside its own market as central bank figures warn they would rather not have interest rates so low for so long.