If yesterday morning markets were losing their mind over the potential risk of World War 3 ahead of Nancy Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan, this morning it has been a mirror image, with risk assets rising and fears unclenching as investor anxiety over tense US-China ties eased after Pelosi left Taiwan less than 24 hours after arriving after pledging solidarity and hailing its democracy, leaving a trail of Chinese anger over her brief visit to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. Meanwhile, despite all the jawboning, China's response to Pelosi's Taiwan visit fell short of more aggressive expectations raised by nationalists like Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, giving markets a breather. Among them:
- Trade: Beijing added boycotts to fish and fruit imports from Taiwan and banned natural sand exports. It also prohibited dealings with some Taiwanese companies including Hyweb.
- Markets: China's potential to weaponize its almost $1 trillion pile of US bonds became a source of chatter after yesterday's surge in Treasury yields.
- On the ground: Pelosi flew off after vowing the US wouldn't abandon Taiwan as she met with President Tsai Ing-wen. She was expected to meet with TSMC's chairman.
As a result, both S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose by about 0.5%. In New York premarket trading, while Treasuries extended a slide sparked by hawkish Federal Reserve comments (and the lack of world war). The dollar fell against most G-10 peers, gold fluctuated and oil was lower ahead of an OPEC+ meeting where some report output may be boosted by a modest 100kb/d (or less jet-fuel than Biden consumed flying on Air Force One to Jedda last month) as Saudis...