Although mainland China markets fell another 5% to start the week, other stock markets have been on the rebound today. Nothing bad happened over the weekend, so some of those who had fled on Friday appear to be dipping their toes back in the water.
Concerns about China appear to be fading a bit as well following in-line inflation reports as the Hang Seng finished the day flat and CNH staged 1 1% rally while the PBOC moved up its CNY peg. This action suggests that although Chinese stock markets remain volatile, traders expect the damage to remain contained to markets. We could get a better idea of this when China trade figures come out later in the week and GDP is reported next week.
Energy markets remain in focus as well today. No change to the standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran and no potential for co-operation among producers any time soon has oil traders continuing to head for the exits, sending WTI and Brent toward $32.00, with the latter taking the bigger hit today falling over 1%. Natural gas is selling off as well, taking a 2% hit following another El-Niño driven warm weekend in eastern consuming regions.
This economic calendar is pretty light this week so we may see more of a focus on the prospects for individual stocks, particularly with earnings season kicking off after the US close today with Alcoa (N:AA) up first as usual. Confession season has been extremely quiet this time around and the stock market selloff last week has lowered expectations, so this quarter could potentially see some positive as well as negative surprises.