Business-Insider

- Aussie retail sales stronger than expected in November: (AU NOV RETAIL SALES: 0.8% V 0.5% expected, prior revised to 0.3% from 0.2%) Aussie consumers continued to spend in November despite the interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia at the start of the month. It is also interesting to note that Aussie spending increased despite a 6.0% increase in gas prices during November. Analysts pointed out that retail sales were strong across the country and not just in the resource-rich states, which should give the central bank added confidence that demand is strong enough to justify an interest rate hike in February. AUD/USD traded around 0.8790 before the data, and peaked above 0.8840 in the few hours after the release. Some chartists expect AUD/USD to remain well supported until the end of the week, considering the formation of a double bottom at 0.8680/85.

- More evidence of inflationary pressures in Australia's economy: (AU NOV JOB VACANCIES: 6.0% V 2.9% prior, Job vacancies rose 13.1% in the year to November) Lehman Brothers Australia chief economist Stephen Roberts said the rise in job vacancies could cause further wages growth, but added that labor supply had also been boosted, countering some of the upward pressure on wages.

- Forex: The USD was mixed in Asia after a late afternoon meltdown on Wall Street. Analysts said that it looks like the market is pricing in a steeper than expected Fed interest rate cut, and this kept the greenback on the back foot for most of today's session. JPY firmed at the start of the Asian morning, but softened after USD/JPY found support at 118.80 and stock markets recovered from early selling. Sterling was little changed in Asia, with some suggesting that much of the recent negative economic news has been priced into the currency. "It's hard to discern any significant trends in FX right now," said Nick Bennenbroek at Wells Fargo. "I think the currency market is trying to figure out which is the way to lean here in terms of how the economy is going to pan out."

- New Hampshire primaries: Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday squeaked out a victory on Tuesday in New Hampshire's primary, slowing rival Barack Obama's momentum. Senator John McCain powered past his Republican rivals and back into contention for the GOP nomination.

- Equities: The Bank of New York index of Asian ADRs fell -0.9% by the end of the U.S. session. At 22:57 ET Japan's Nikkei is -0.22% after recovering from an 18 month low at the start of the session, the S&P ASX200 index is -1.02%, South Korea's KOSPI is -0.44%, and the Shanghai Composite Index is +0.20%. The S&P futures contract recovered from the late afternoon sell-off on Wall Street, gaining +0.21% between 16:30 ET and 23:00 ET.

- Commodities: Nymex crude oil gained +0.32% between 18:00 ET and 23:11 ET, last trading at $96.64/bbl. Asian investors bought oil ahead of tomorrow's weekly U.S. crude inventories data, with some expecting U.S. crude inventories to drop for the 8th consecutive week. Spot gold prices climbed to a new record high as some analyst suggest we haven't seen the last of the funds piling in. There is a growing consensus that gold's bullishness is mostly due to funds' reallocating money to gold at start of 2008. Shanghai copper is up by its +4.0 daily limit.

(by Eben Esterhuizen)
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