Overnight

It's about the dollar. What it's not about is the Fed. The Fed is becoming more insignificant as time goes on in a world that's being twisted and jerked by crazy central bank policies and bureaucratic incompetence.

 The good thing about both is they create opportunities to make money, lots of money. They create imbalances. As Reuters noted: Asian stocks rose and the greenback languished near two-month lows on Thursday after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting showed policymakers were in no rush to raise interest rates.


MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.4 percent as investors added to positions after a 14 percent rise over the last two months.
Technology stocks, especially Tencent (0700.HK) and Lenovo Group (0992.HK) led the index higher

Hong Kong shares .HSI was the top gainer in Asia with a 1 percent rise, while a stronger yen, thanks to the Fed's cautious outlook, pulled Japan's Nikkei .N225 back 0.5 percent. The July meeting minutes released on Wednesday showed that Fed policymakers were generally upbeat about the U.S. economic outlook and labor market. But they also said they wanted to "leave their policy options open" as any slowdown in hiring would argue against near-term monetary tightening.
That's what's known as fence sitting or hedging your bet, something this Fed is now famous for, the lack of will to make a decision. Even the good job numbers are phony and they know it. So what's that say about the bad job numbers. Forget the Fed minutes. Watch the dollar.
The regional story was about stronger currencies with the yen rising and the Aussie dollar up, pushing stock markets down. The Wall Street Journal reported: Shares in Asia were mixed Thursday, with stronger regional currencies putting pressure on some stocks, while China’s plans to further open its equities market provided a delayed boost. The Nikkei Stock Average was hit by a stronger yen, falling 0.2% in morning trade. The yen broke below the 100 level versus the U.S. dollar. Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.4% as its local currency strengthened following strong jobs data.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 1.5%, Seoul’s Kospi added 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2%.