What a morning already! 

The Hang Seng rose 179 points in today’s trading and finished down 20 for the day – THAT’S how bad the open was!  The Nikkei finished an up and down 100-point swing up 34 points at 9,404 but dove into the close along with the dollar (our 3am trade), which now can be bought with just 83 Yen.  The Shanghai, on the other hand, was feeling hot, hot, hot and gained 1.7% just behind the BSE, which flew up 1.9% to take back the position of Global Leader.

Strong data boosted the Asian indexes overall with China’s PMI rising to 53.8 from 51.7 in August while India’s PMI pulled back slightly from 57.2 to 55.1 but that’s good as over 50 is expansion and 57.2 is running a little hot.  Korean exports rose 17.2% in September, also a little too hot as their CPI topped 3.6% but mainly driven by food prices, which seems temporary.  China’s upbeat PMI reading indicates that the negative impact of government measures to control the property market is probably waning, ING’s Mr. Condon said. This means China’s slowdown will probably be less abrupt than expected, especially in the fourth quarter.

The effect, he said, should be especially positive on North Asian economies closely tied to China’s demand, such as Korea and Taiwan. Fears of lower Chinese demand have had a particularly pronounced effect on Taiwan’s business outlook. The island’s September PMI ticked down to 49.0 from 49.2. “Sturdy domestic demand” should keep Taiwan’s economy on target to grow 7.3% this year, “provided employment conditions continue improving,” said HSBC economist Donna Kwok.

[YUAN_1]On our side of the planet, the US markets, especially commodities, got a huge boost as China’s government gave a muted response to House legislation aimed at forcing the Yuan to be valued higher.  Aside from China knowing that they already own enough Senators to Filibuster any legislation aimed at protecting American jobs, the bill was watered down in that it PERMITS, but does not REQUIRE, the US to levy tariffs on goods produced by countries found to have undervalued currencies.

Sharp retaliation by China is unlikely in the short term, analysts said, since the bill hasn’t become law and wouldn’t immediately produce restrictions on Chinese goods even if it did.  In an apparent gesture to U.S. concerns, China has pushed the yuan up steadily in recent weeks; it was up 1.6% against the dollar in September.  “We…
continue reading