The Traderszone Network

The suspected Islamic State mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid north of the capital.

Asian shares looked set to hold on to this week’s gains, while the dollar took a breather on Friday after stepping back from seven-month highs as investors grappled with the prospects of higher U.S. borrowing costs and slower global economic growth. Commodity prices were pressured, with copper near 6-1/2-year lows and a major sea freight index hitting its lowest level on record, underscoring worries over slackening world demand. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat on the day, though it held on to gains of 1.7 percent so far this week.

U.S. crude futures inched up in early Asian trading on Friday but remained near three-month lows after a persistent supply glut has cut prices by nearly 13 percent since the start of November. U.S. crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were quoted 5 cents higher at $40.59 a barrel as of 0024 GMT. Crude futures have already lost around 60 percent of their value since mid-2014 as supply exceeds demand by roughly 0.7 million to 2.5 million barrels per day to create a glut that analysts say will last well into 2016.

The steeply discounted IPO price, at less than 60 percent of the company’s last private valuation, had raised questions about the prospects of other so-called ‘unicorns’ – startups worth at least $1 billion – that might want or need to go public. A number of tech IPOs have performed poorly over the past year, and mutual fund investors including Fidelity Investments have been marking down the value of their private tech holdings.

People’s Bank of China reference rate for the yuan
– yesterday’s close was 6.3840
– yesterday’s mid point was set at 6.3791

When last we checked in on America’s auto loan bubble (which recently ballooned past the $1 trillion mark) the “visionary” ex-Santander execs over at Skopos Financial had just finished selling some $154 million in paper backed by a collateral pool wherein 75% of the loans were made to borrowers with credit scores less than 600. 

14% of the loans were made to borrowers with no credit score at all.

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Comments from ANZ chief economist Hogan:
– AUD/USD holding gains
– Signalling a move back to 74c
– With commodity prices on their knees this highlights risk of RBA cuts in 2016
more to come