Daily Market Commentary 2nd February

Global equity markets rebounded strongly to begin the new week and month, following the crazy disruptive close of last week. The ‘short-squeeze’ on some US stocks was beginning to unravel, as brokerage firms co-ordinated sale-bans of the targeted stocks. The ‘reddit lead group’ turned to silver and that jumped 10%in futures trading. The market disruption is not over, while the safe haven US Dollar regained some ground, with the EUR falling to 1.2060 and the GBP to 1.3670.

Global Manufacturing PMI was flat except for Australia, which showed resilience under the benefit of a relatively open economy. The rising reserve did put some downward pressure on the commodity currencies, with the AUD falling back to 0.7600, while the NZD dropped to 0.7150. Volatility is expected to continue and Central bank activity from the RBA may well inform the markets today.

This is a busy week for economic data releases, which may reflect global economic activity, but unforeseeable market events continue to dominate and drive market direction.