Asian equities extended declines Tuesday, led by weakness in financial stocks as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continued to reverberate across global markets. The yield on the two-year Treasury erased earlier gains.
(Bloomberg) — Asian equities extended declines Tuesday, led by weakness in financial stocks as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continued to reverberate across global markets. The yield on the two-year Treasury erased earlier gains.
Global financial stocks have taken the brunt of the losses in equities, shedding $465 billion in market value in two days. A gauge of Asian stocks fell 2%, wiping out gains for 2023. Contracts for US and European stock futures were steady.
The two-year Treasury yield had climbed about 20 basis points before erasing its advance. The move followed Monday’s epic slump as investors repositioned for a more dovish Federal Reserve.
Japan’s 10-year government bond yield momentarily fell below 0.25%, the Bank of Japan’s previous ceiling, before rebounding amid bets that the US banking turmoil could slow the pace of global rate hikes and ease pressure on Japan to tighten. Yields on New Zealand’s two-year government bond tumbled more than 20 basis points, as did the rate on Australia’s three-year maturity.
A gauge of dollar strength edged higher after erasing its gains for the year on Monday amid a reassessment of the outlook for interest rates.
Swaps traders are now pricing a less than 60% chance the Federal Reserve will hike by another quarter percentage-point later this month.
“A policy mistake is hands down the biggest risk in the market,” Mary Manning, global portfolio manager for Alphinity Investment Management, said on Bloomberg Television. “Controlling inflation but also addressing the fact there is some instability in the banking system is difficult.”
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists as well as asset managers from the world’s largest actively managed bond fund, Pacific Investment Management Co., said the Fed could take a breather on the policy rate following the collapse of SVB. Nomura Holdings Inc. economists took it one step further, saying the Fed could cut its target rate next week.
Analysts at BlackRock Investment Institute, however, do not expect the Fed to halt its rate-hike campaign because of the recent developments. “Instead, by shoring up the banking system, the Fed can focus monetary policy on bringing inflation down to its 2% target,” they wrote in a note.
Key Data
Traders are looking to the US consumer price index report later in the day for cues that may trigger further shifts in bets on the Fed’s next move.
“If this CPI print within the next 24 hours is in line with consensus or no worse than consensus then market sentiment can calm, but if we get a strong number, all bets are off the table,” Andrew Ticehurst, senior economist and rates strategist for Nomura Australia Ltd., said on Bloomberg Television. “That would put the Fed in a really difficult position because the data would say you need to hike and we’ve got financial stability risks pointing the other way.”
The S&P 500 closed Monday down 0.2%, after bouncing between gains and losses amid a rout in bank shares while the policy-sensitive Nasdaq climbed 0.8%, the most in over a week. The fallout from SVB’s collapse prompted President Joe Biden to promise stronger regulation of US lenders, while reassuring depositors that their money is safe.
The SVB meltdown has also caused a swift repricing in credit risk. Yield premiums on company debt, which had trended lower for much of this year, have climbed back to levels seen in November, according to a Bloomberg index that includes investment-grade and junk bonds.
Oil extended a decline ahead of the inflation data as the biggest US bank collapse since 2008 continued to ripple through financial markets, while Asian energy shares fell. Gold slid after rising in the three previous sessions as traders turned to haven assets.
Key events this week:
- US inflation, Tuesday
- China retail sales, industrial production, medium-term lending, surveyed jobless rate, Wednesday
- Eurozone industrial production, Wednesday
- US business inventories, retail sales, PPI, empire manufacturing, Wednesday
- Eurozone rate decision, Thursday
- US housing starts, initial jobless claims, Thursday
- Janet Yellen appears before the Senate Finance Committee, Thursday
- US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, industrial production, Conference Board leading index, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 6:20 a.m. London time. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Monday
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8%
- Japan’s Topix index fell 2.7%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.1%
- China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 1.4%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
- The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0705
- The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 133.40 per dollar
- The offshore yuan fell 0.2% to 6.8629 per dollar
- The Australian dollar fell 0.1% to $0.6658
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 1.3% to $24,544.88
- Ether rose 0.6% to $1,682.87
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined seven basis points to 3.51%
- Japan’s 10-year yield declined 3.5 basis points to 0.260%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 3.45%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $73.99 a barrel
- Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,910.68 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson and Marcus Wong.
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