Asia equities sustained an impulse from Wall Street equals after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched fresh record highs with some encouragement from the US FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine. Worth noting the positive trade in cyclical sectors as WTI and Brent futures started the week on the front foot, in contrast to the previous seven consecutive days of losses. Traders will also be aware of geopolitics as China, Iran, and Russia are poised to hold joint maritime exercises in the Persian Gulf late-2021/early-2022.
In the US, it was a quiet session with a lot of focus on the tail end of the week, the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, with all eyes on Fed Chair Jerome Powell for more colour around the bond tapering details. For the session ahead, participants will be digesting comments from PBOC Governor Yang. He said the Central Bank would boost credit support to the economy and Small and Medium Enterprises. On the finance front, the US SEC issued disclosure requirements for Chinese companies seeking to list in the US. Some companies began receiving instructions about greater disclosure regarding the use of offshore vehicles known as variable interest entities for IPOs.
