This news inspired the safe haven crowd as they scrambled for their favorite port in this storm, the Japsnese yen, tossing one more gauntlet in front of Japanese exporters to worry about. Investors in the Nikkei responded by pushing the index down 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite Index and South Korea's Kospi were mostly flat while Australia's ASX 200 fell 1.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1%.
The Wall Street Journal reported: Banks on Japan’s Topix benchmark were off 1.2%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 1.6%. The Japanese yen was up 0.2% at ¥111.87 to one U.S. dollar, with its strength hurting the competitiveness of local exporters.
The Chinese yuan fell slightly against the U.S. dollar after authorities guided it weaker for a second session in a row. The central bank fixed the yuan at 6.5302 yuan to one greenback, the weakest level for the yuan since Feb. 5, before China’s Lunar New Year holiday.
So oil is the dastardly villain again in a market where investors can't seem to make up their minds. Is the globe headed for another recession and the Chinese economy a hard landing or isn't it remains pretty much the question for now.
For an answer why doesn't someone just ask a central bank economist? That ought to clear the whole thing up.
Chinese shares opened higher but surrendered the gains, with the CSI 300 index .CSI300down 0.1 percent and the Shanghai Composite .SSEC little changed.The U.S. S&P 500 Index .SPX fell 1.25 percent on Tuesday to 1,921.27, having failed to rise above its pak hit on Feb. 1, with energy and material sectors being a major drag as oil prices quickly gave up Monday's hefty gains.
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