Asia Market Quick Take – 07 July, 2026

Key points:

Disclaimer: Past performance does not indicate future performance.

Macro:

• US ISM Services PMI slipped to 54.0 in June 2026 from 54.5 in May, still signaling solid but slower growth. Business activity and new orders cooled, but employment returned to expansion at 51.2, its strongest gain since 2024. Price pressures eased to a four-month low, while respondents reported generally robust business conditions despite inflation concerns tied to the Middle East conflict.
• Canada’s S&P Global Services PMI fell to 47.1 in June 2026 from 50.6, signaling the sharpest contraction since February. New orders declined amid high prices and geopolitical uncertainty, while employment rose slightly and backlogs fell. Input cost and selling price inflation eased but stayed elevated, and business confidence dropped to its lowest since November 2025.
• Investors await a Washington hearing on the US trade probe into Brazil, which could result in a proposed 25% tariff on Brazilian exports after the USTR flagged “unreasonable” trade practices.
• The S&P Global US Services PMI rose to 51.2 in June 2026 from 50.7, the fastest growth since before the Middle East war. Stronger new business, helped by tourism and World Cup events, contrasted with weak hiring and higher labor, tariff, and fuel costs, though firms stayed optimistic about future output.
• Euro Area producer prices rose 0.2% m/m in May 2026 after 0.7% in April, matching expectations. Energy prices fell 1% as oil returned to pre-war levels, while prices excluding energy increased 0.7%. Producer price growth slowed in Germany and Spain and turned negative in Italy and France. Annually, prices were up 5.9%, the fastest rise since March 2023.
• Germany’s Construction PMI rose to 44.8 in June 2026 from 42.4, indicating a slower contraction. Housing remained weakest, but commercial and civil declines eased. New orders and employment kept falling at softer rates, costs and delivery times stayed pressured, and confidence improved but stayed negative.

Equities: 

• US - US stocks closed higher Monday on semiconductor strength: the S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Nasdaq 100 1.3%, and the Dow hit a record 53,056. Broadcom jumped 3.7% on an extended Apple deal to 2031, while Nvidia, Micron, AMD, and Intel also gained. Data showed slightly slower US services growth but stronger hiring, and markets now look to Wednesday’s Fed minutes for policy signals. Tesla led S&P 500 gains, up 6.7%, while Arista Networks surged 8.3%. O'Reilly Automotive fell 6.7%, its worst day since 2022. In after hours, Rivian reported preliminary Q2 revenue of $1.55–1.65bn, beating estimates of $1.44bn, though shares fell 6% after hours on lower average selling prices and potential rights offering of $1.5b.
• EU - The Stoxx 600 fell 0.3% to 650.50, the FTSE 100 declined 0.3% to 10,652, and the Euro Stoxx 50 slipped 0.2% to 6,398 — just off its all-time closing high set on 3 July. DAX 40 rose 0.2% to a record 25,833, supported by lower oil prices and strong earnings expectations. Thyssenkrupp jumped over 11% on reports of a major Canadian submarine contract, boosting defence peers. BE Semiconductor fell 5.5% on reports of further delays to hybrid bonding chip packaging adoption. Maersk slid 5.4% on news some of its ships will resume Red Sea/Suez Canal service, raising freight rate concerns. EasyJet surged 9.3% to its highest since 2021 on M&A news, while ITV rose after agreeing to sell its media and entertainment arm to Sky.
• Asia - The Nikkei 225 was broadly flat, the Kospi fell 0.5% to 8,051 as SK Hynix dropped 3.4% amid 11 consecutive days of foreign selling. The Hang Seng rose 0.8%, supported by Chinese memory chip stocks surging on strong preliminary earnings — Shenzhen Longsys jumped 13%. The STI gained 0.3% to 5,260, with ThaiBev the top performer. After the close, Samsung reported Q2 operating profit of 89.4 trillion won, beating estimates of 84.2 trillion won, on a 19-fold year-on-year surge driven by AI memory chip demand. However, Samsung shares fell more than 4% on Nextrade after the results. LG Energy Solution missed Q2 operating profit estimates significantly (113.3bn won vs. 210.7bn won expected) due to sluggish EV demand. The Kospi opened sharply lower on Tuesday, falling around 2% to 7,888 as of the open.

Earnings this week:

• Tuesday – Saratoga Investment, Penguin Solutions
• Wednesday – Levi's, Azz
• Thursday – Pepsico, Byrna, WD-40
• Friday – Delta Airlines

Key Event this week:

• Friday - SK Hynix ADR listing

FX:

• USD continued to strengthen broadly, with speculative long positions on the dollar rising to nearly $40bn as of 30 June — the highest since 2015 — as markets price in a prolonged higher-rate environment. The dollar's haven role has been reinforced by the US-Iran conflict.
• JPY hovered near 162 against USD, close to a four-decade low, putting traders on alert for potential intervention by Japanese authorities. Hedge funds turned the most bearish on the yen since 2007, with short positions reaching nearly 138,000 contracts as of 30 June.
• NOK was the best-performing G10 currency on Monday, strengthening 0.6% against the USD.
• NZD traded in a narrow range ahead of the RBNZ policy decision on Wednesday. ING flagged limited NZD upside given the risk of a one-off 25bp insurance hike to anchor inflation expectations.
• EURUSD slipped marginally to 1.1440, with traders focused on upcoming FOMC minutes as the next key catalyst. GBPUSD was the only notable outperformer, ticking up to 1.3390, while AUDUSD was unchanged at 0.6960.

Commodities:

• Crude traded below $69 as Strait of Hormuz flows normalized and OPEC+ raised quotas by 188,000 bpd, with Saudi and UAE output recovering and Saudi cutting its August Asia OSP.
• Gold slipped to $4,140 on a stronger dollar, but softer US labor data capped losses and trimmed Fed hike bets, with markets seeing just over a 50% chance of a September move and JPMorgan forecasting Q3/Q4 caps near $4,300 and $4,500. Silver falls below $62.

Fixed income:

• US 10-year Treasury yield slipped to about 4.48% as investors digested data showing a modest services slowdown, easing price pressures, and stronger services employment, following softer jobs numbers that reduced expectations for further Fed hikes this year.
• Japan’s 10-year government bond yield rose above 2.8% on Monday, the highest since May 1997, amid concerns over larger fiscal spending and heavier borrowing under a new long-term ¥370 trillion investment plan. Persistent bond selling and pressure on the BOJ to hike rates further, given the yen’s weakness near 40-year lows, have pushed yields higher.

For a global look at markets – go to Inspiration.

This content is marketing content and should not be considered investment advice. Trading financial instruments carries risks and historic performance is not a guarantee for future performance.
The instrument(s) mentioned in this content may be issued by a partner, from which Saxo receives promotion, payment or retrocessions. While Saxo receives compensation from these partnerships, all content is conducted with the intention of providing clients with valuable options and information.