Copper

AsiaPac stocks are broadly lower at the open, folowing US' lead as after being closed for 3 days, Japanese stocks open and catch down to global weakness with Nikkei 225 at 2-week lows. It appears it is time to "get back to work Mr.Kuroda," as stocks are below Black Monday's lows. Following last night's dismal data, China credit risk rose once again to new 2 year highs. Once again, industrial metals are under pressure with iron ore, copper, and aluminum all lower (following "peak steel" comments). After 3 days of weakening (and Xi's comments that China won't weaken), PBOC weakend the Yuan fix again, pushing the offshore-onshore spread to 2-week wides (over 500 pips apart).

In many ways, the overnight market has so far been a reversal of yesterday, when a stable Asia session (with China stocks rising) gave way to a European tumble which in turn dragged the US lower.

Ironically, As Xi says "won't devalue the Yuan," The PBOC devalues the Yuan for the 3rd day to the weakest in a month...

Following last night's ADB China growth downgrade, and warnings from The IMF's Lagarde that a "China slowdown is a major risk to the global economy," the weakness seen in Europe and US is continuing across AsiaPac tonight ahead of China's much-watched PMI data (though we are not sure why - since no "bad news" excuse is needed to enable super-easy policy). With Xi in the US, one would imagine a 'beat' for PMI will be engineered, although industrial metals are extending their losses. Credit markets area nxious with Malaysia CDS at 2011 highs, Philippines highest since 2014, and China back on the rise. Xi begins his speech tonight reminding The Fed that China "is the biggest developing nation in the world," and its economy "is stable" despite Yellen's fears.

Today's Glencore implosion is a far greater risk to the capital markets and the global economy than Volkswagen: a few executive resignations, a few bribes to US Congress, and the scandal will be promptly snuffed. For Glencore, however, which suddenly the entire world realizes is - as we said in March 2014 - the way to trade China, it may now be too late.

While Asian trading overnight started off on the right foot, chasing US momentum higher, things rapidly shifted once Europe opened as attention moved back to global growth fears, global central banks losing credibility, as well as miners and the ongoing Volkswagen fiasco.

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After sliding early in Sunday pre-market trade, overnight US equity futures managed to rebound on the now traditional low-volume levitation from a low of 1938 to just over 1950 at last check, ignoring the biggest single-name blowup story this morning which is the 23% collapse in Volkswagen shares, and instead have piggybacked on what we said was the last Hail Mary for the market: the hope of more QE from either the ECB or the BOJ. Tonight, it was the latter and while Japan's market are closed until Thursday for public holidays, its currency which is the world's preferred carry trade and the primary driver alongside VIX manipulation of the S&P500, has jumped from a low of just over 119 on Friday morning to a high of 120.4, pushing the entire US stock market with it.

The divergence meme that is the center of the dollar bull narrative was never predicated on precise timing of Fed's lift-off.   To go from no hike in September to Fed will never raise interest rates, or QE4 is next, is a needless exaggeration.  

It appears a combination of "there's not enough growth" and "well maybe they'll ease" has driven growthy commodities down hard post-Yellen and sent investors reaching for the safety of bullion. Silver is up over 5% this week now and Gold back at 3 week highs...

What was one "one and done", just became "none and done" as the Fed will no longer hike in 2015 and will certainly think twice before hiking ahead of the presidential election in 2016. By then the inventory liquidation-driven recession will be upon the US and the Fed will be looking at either NIRP or QE4. Worse, the Fed just admitted it is as, if not more concerned, with the market than with the economy. Worst, suddenly the market no longer wants a... dovish Fed?

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The long awaited day is finally here by which we, of course, mean the day when nobody has any idea what the Fed will do, the Fed included. Putting today in perspective, there have been just about 700 rate cuts globally in the 3,367 days since the last Fed rate hike on June 29, 2006, while central banks have bought $15 trillion in assets, and vast portions of the world are now in negative interest rate territory.