Equities Under Pressure

The Japan flash manufacturing PMI released earlier today by Markit came in at 50.9, down from 51.7 in August, falling below the median estimates of 51.3. The data showed Japan's production being little changed while the manufacturing sector pointed to a broad slowdown as new orders growth declined after rising sharply in August at the fastest pace this year. The decline in the sales volumes was attributed to the slowdown from China where a decrease in the exports was expected. The Yen, which weakened yesterday, losing -0.13% versus the US Dollar was seen gaining in today's early trading session with USDJPY down -0.20% after the release. Price action in USDJPY remains range bound for the past 10 trading sessions and could potentially signal a breakout in the near-term should conditions change drastically.

The weekly crude oil inventories report from the Energy Information Administration showed a greater-than-anticipated fall in the US commercial crude oil stockpiles. For the week ending September 18th, inventories fell by -1.925 million barrels, down from a -2.104 million barrel decline recorded a week earlier. The median estimates only expected to see a drawdown of -1.650 million barrels. Earlier the American Petroleum Institute showed a weekly inventory storage decline of 2.700 million barrels, posting a second consecutive weekly decline while the US oil rig count continued to fall for the third week in a row. Despite the news which was expected to be positive for crude oil, WTI crude oil futures for November delivery declined sharply yesterday, losing over -4.15% for the day to settle at $44.61 a barrel.