June 16, 2026
Overnight, Asian equity markets were mixed. There was no shortage of headlines, the Bank of Japan kicked off a central bank heavy week hiking rates as expected to 1%, the highest level since 1995. Some say it was a more dovish hike, I think it was pretty much a typical BoJ hike, there was a promise to do more if the economy evolved as the central bank expects but any moves will be measured and data dependent. USD/JPY little changed on the day. The RBA held rates steady as expected. We also had a data dump out of China. Industrial production was a bit better than expected supported by tech manufacturing and electronics. Those gains aren’t translating to the consumer it seems with retail sales much softer than expected with its first contraction (-0.6% YoY) since the end of pandemic era restrictions in December 2022. Property investment and sales remain very soft as well. European bourses closed modestly higher today. President Trump will be doing his best to convince the rest of the leaders including Mark (“the Governor”) Carney, Emmanuel (“my handshake is firmer than yours”) Macron, Kier (“you’re no Winston Churchill”) Starmer, Sanae (“no surprises”) Takaichi and Ursula (“the EU isn’t even a country”) von der Leyen that his Iran deal is a winner and that they all still treat the U.S. unfairly on trade. The expectations component of Germany’s ZEW sentiment survey was better than expected, which helped lift sentiment. Admittedly it was a very low bar to beat. In North American trading, SpaceX rose as much as 17% after confirming it would follow through on the acquisition of Cursor for $60B, as previously disclosed. The IPO’s performance remained historical, at one point matching Microsoft’s market cap in only its third session as a public company. SpaceX and other stocks fell back by mid-morning, digesting yesterday’s big gains. Oil prices and bond yields remained lower as President Trump praised the Iran deal ahead of the formal MOU signing ceremony. Brent crude dipped below $80/barrel for the first time since the conflict began. Huntsman and Olin announced a deal for a merger of equals, combining the North American chemicals companies. U.S. U.S. May housing starts fell to the lowest levels since the depths of the pandemic illustrating the headwinds facing the U.S. housing market.
* Nikkei +0.13%
* Shanghai -0.11%
* Hang Seng -1.40%
* DAX +0.07%
* FTSE +0.61%
* CAC +0.75%
* DJIA +0.64%
* S&P 500 -0.57%
* Nasdaq -1.15%
* Russell 2000 -0.87%
* BSD Global Tech Hedge Fund -1.01%