1/9/2021 2:47:46 AM GMT
USD/JPY recovers ground but the trend remains lower.
Weak US December payrolls had minimal effect as already priced.
BOJ “closely watching currency markets” provides Thursday boost.
FXStreet Forecast Poll sees little movement despite bearish outlook.
A week of political turmoil in the United States that culminated in a riot in the halls of Congress by supporters of President Trump, had almost no impact on the currency markets as an old-fashioned warning from the Bank of Japan combined with the prospect of more stimulus spending in the United States gave the USD/JPY a modest boost back to 104.00.
Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto remained sanguine about Indonesia clocking a five-percent economic growth despite large-scale social .
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UBS (NYSE: UBS) freight transportation analyst Tom Wadewitz sees a favorable freight setup in the first half of 2021. His expectations for the year were laid out on a conference call with clients Thursday reviewing his outlook report published earlier in the day.
The call is for a combination of rising growth in freight activity plus strong pricing to support strong EPS performance and upside for the transport group in 2021. He believes the stocks with the most upside are
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) and
Domestic package market to stay tight
The bullish call on FedEx and UPS centers around the expectation for domestic package volumes to remain elevated. The UBS internet equity research team is forecasting e-commerce sales to increase 16% in 2021, following a 34% jump in 2020. Additionally, network and capacity constraints at many parcel providers leads Wadewitz to believe FedEx and UPS can capture strong pricing gains this year.
Costco Wholesale also reports its December 2020 sales and revenue on Wednesday. And on Monday, shareholders of
Peugeot vote on the automakers’ proposed merger of equals.
Economic data releases this week include December U.S. job numbers on Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to show an increase of 125,000 nonfarm payrolls, and an unemployment rate of 6.8%, which would be up from 6.7% in November.
Also out this week is the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for December on Tuesday, followed by its Services equivalent on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee releases minutes from its latest meeting in mid-December.
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This most unusual of holiday shopping seasons is over. The initial results reflect the pandemic itself: winners, losers, some resilience, and a few hints of the future.
Holiday retail sales rose 3% year over year if you start in mid-October, says Mastercard SpendingPulse, with the pandemic-delayed
Amazon.com Prime Day and similar promotions. If you measure from November to Dec. 24, they climbed 2.4%. Online jumped 49% from 2019 levels and accounted for nearly a fifth of all sales. Department stores fell 10%. Furniture was a big winner, rising 16% year over year, and 31% online, while apparel slumped 19%, as folks spent more on homes and less on wardrobes.