Asia Follows The US Higher

Asian markets were mixed overall in a choppy day, amid ongoing tensions regarding the Syrian issue. However, they followed U.S. markets, for the most part, higher today.

In television interviews overnight U.S. President Barack Obama stated that a “tailored, limited” strike could be what the doctor ordered and would be sufficient enough to teach Syria a lesson. He added that he had made no decision to use force as of yet.

Oil prices are on the rise as Middle East tension flare up. U.S. energy stocks rose overnight which helped Wall Street snap a two day losing streak. Crude oil is hovering near a two year high at this time.

STOCKS

The Nikkei 225 has moved back over 13,400 but closed near 13,397.17. The Kospi, in South Korea has moved to a one week high near 1,910.28. The S&P/ASX, in Australia moved down a modest 0.2 percent as did the Shanghai Composite.

U.S. markets closed in positive territory snapping two day losing streak. Rising oil prices boosted energy companies amid rising tension in Syria and even Egypt.

The DJIA rose 48.38 points on the day closing well shy of the key 15,000 level at 14,824.51. The Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) climbed two and a half percent as energy prices moved higher.

The S&P 500 moved up 4.48 points to close at 1,634.96 and the NASDAQ Composite finished at 3,593.35, almost 15 points higher.

European markets closed lower yesterday. The FTSE in London was off by 11 points to close at 6,430.06 and German DAX closed down nearly 65 points to finish at 8,157.90.

CURRENCIES

All the major Forex pairs look to be trading in a consolidative range this morning.

The USD/JPY (97.61) is trading from a key resistance near 98.00 to the key support at 96.20 to 96.00. The outlook is not very clear on the Forex pair and we need further signals. See the below chart.

The AUD/USD (0.8969) hit a low at 0.8894 yesterday and is looking weak to continue to its bear trend. Oddly, this commodity currency has not seen any bounce with the strength in gold. The EUR/USD (1.3334) continues to range trade from 1.3300 to 1.3400. This is a tight consolidative pattern. We need a break above 1.3400 for the bulls to come out to play.

COMMODITIES

Crude Oil (109.44) hit a high at 112.00 yesterday and retreated a little. WTI Brent (115.82) tested 117 to 118 area most of the trading session then cooled off. We are still bullish on the energy stocks as Middle East tensions can affect the supply.

Gold (1409.60) did fall a bit. We see strong support at 1400 which is expected to hold. If that holds, we remain bullish to test 1425 and higher.

TODAY’S OUTLOOK

Fairly quiet economic data day. Geo political tension can drive the markets but data wise, quiet. We get Jobless claims out of the U.S. later, along with the GDP number and Federal reserve Bank President Lacker will make comments.