Trump bets cashed in before US CPI

A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.

Investors sobered up from post-election euphoria over Republican Donald Trump’s victory and took some profits ahead of Wednesday’s October US CPI report, which kicks off a calendar thick with US news events markets will be watching the rest of the week.

While CPI will not be a trading factor for Asia until Thursday, it has ramifications for global markets already nervous about how Trump’s hardline trade policies might impact US growth, inflation, interest rates and thereby the Federal Reserve’s easing trajectory.

U.S. stocks eased and bitcoin faltered after flirting with USD 90,000 on Tuesday while Treasury yields jumped on reopening from a long weekend as the ramifications of tax cuts, trade tariffs and wider budget deficits under the new administration were priced in.

Wall Street’s stumble was similar to downward moves in Asia, in what looks like a negative feedback loop.

Trump’s agenda should be easily pushed through Congress, now that Republicans appear to have won a majority of US House seats, marking a government sweep.

The S&P 500 and other indexes spent the day in the red. Bitcoin pulled back during the session before making another run that barely cleared the early high at USD 89,982.

Crypto stocks like Coinbase and Riot Platforms slumped, as did Tesla, another stock expected to perform well during Trump’s presidency, given the close ties between the president-elect and Elon Musk, its billionaire CEO and another outspoken bitcoin promoter.

The ten-year yield posted its biggest basis point rise since June and the yield on the two-year note looked set for its biggest jump in more than a month — excellent support for the dollar. Dollar/yen hit its highest since July 30, trading at 154.73 in late US trade and China’s yuan was at 7.2423 per dollar after hitting its lowest since Aug 1.

Chinese shares slid on concerns that Trump’s administration would be loaded with China hawks. The Shanghai Composite closed 1.4% lower. MSCI’s all world index fell 0.7%, after its index of Asian shares ex-Japan ended down 2% along with the Nikkei’s drop.

Datawise, US October producer prices on Thursday and retail sales on Friday fill out the week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks on the economic outlook on Thursday, another reason to keep the powder dry.