EQUITIES
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday. Japan led losses in the region, as the Nikkei 225 fell 0.81% after jumping nearly 2% on Wednesday. Over in South Korea, the KOSPI was down 0.19%. The Shanghai composite fell 0.31%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.08%, and Australia’s ASX 200 advanced 0.44%. In Southeast Asia, Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times Index was flat.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.11%, to 36,290.32 after shuffled between modest gains and losses through the session, the S&P 500 gained 0.28%, to 4,726.35 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.23%, to 15,188.39.
OIL
Oil prices slipped on Thursday, trimming big gains from the previous two sessions, amid uncertainty over near-term demand as cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus surge around the globe.
Data from the U.S. EIA on Wednesday showed fuel demand has taken a hit from Omicron, with gasoline stockpiles increasing by 8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 7, compared with expectations for 2.4-million-barrel rise.
The Brent now traded at $84.50 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures traded at $82.47 per barrel.
Oil prices hit two-month highs on Wednesday. Brent futures ends at $84.67 a barrel, while the WTI crude oil prices closed to $82.64 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar fell after the inflation report. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, overnight fell to fresh lows of around 95.1, hitting levels not seen since November. It was last at 94.972, continuing its decline from levels above 95 in the past week.
The U.S. 10-year yield edged up to 1.752% after falling as far as 1.725% on Wednesday.
GOLD
Gold prices rose on Tuesday, supported by pullback in both the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields. Spot gold rose 0.12% to $1,827.60 per ounce, and U.S. gold futures was at $1,826.20.
Spot silver was up 0.10% to $22.23 an ounce, platinum slipped to $976.00, and palladium shed 0.4% to $1,908.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Asian shares were mixed on Thursday, as global investors assessed the U.S. red-hot inflation report that set market expectations for stimulus unwinding and interest rates hike this year. Meanwhile, COVID-19 worries also came back into focus as the WHO of late warned that Omicron variant cases are “off the charts.”
Data from the U.S. Labor Department showed the CPI increased 0.5% last month after rising 0.8% in November, while in the 12 months through December, the CPI surged 7.0% to its highest YoY rise since 1982.
In the latest COVID-19 developments, the WHO reported a record 15 million new cases globally for a single week, as Omicron variant rapidly replaces Delta variant as the dominant variant across the globe.
Also on the watchlist for this week is the unofficial kick-off of the Q4 earnings season with JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley due to report their results on Friday.
