The Traderszone Network

China’s factory activity shrank for a 10th straight month in December as surveys across Asia showed industry struggling with slack demand even as the policy cupboard is looking increasingly bare of fresh stimulus. Japan’s Nikkei fell over 2 percent and Shanghai (.SSEC) lost more than 3 percent. There was a faint stirring of hope as PMIs in South Korea and Taiwan both edged above the 50 mark, though more thanks to a pick up in domestic demand than any revival in exports.

BlackRock said its own haul of $130 billion in new money also set a record in global flows for its iShares ETF business, surpassing the previous annual record set in 2014, when investors added $103 billion in new money to the funds. ETFs, generally a basket of stocks, bonds or other assets, grew at a record rate despite markets struggling in 2015 to deliver the broad gains they have posted since rebounding from the financial crisis in 2009.

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One of the Federal Reserve’s hawkish officials said on Sunday that while she prefers a slightly more aggressive approach, she is not opposed to her colleagues’ view that the U.S. central bank needs to raise interest rates only four times this year. Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, told Reuters in an interview she does not need to see clear evidence of inflation to back more policy tightening after an initial rate hike in mid-December. The Fed could act at any policy meeting, including one later in January, she said.

Tensions between the two OPEC producers spurred worries about supply because because most Saudi oil comes from a Shiite-dominated province.

Shares across Asia tumbled Monday, the first trading day of the year, after the latest signal that China’s economy is stalling.
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Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda comments:
– Will take further bold steps if necessary to achieve 2% inflation target
– Prices are steadily improving as a trend
Jiji in Japan carrying his comments, Reuters with the headlines on the wires