Economic and Market Update - Week Beginning 10th March

March 10, 2014 - PRLog -- Hexagon Capital Management is a privately held wealth management company that manages hundreds of client assets in a wide range of products and services with a non biased, client orientated program that is tailored to each individual or corporate requirement

Breaking news on Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, a Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared early Saturday morning still makes the headlines on Monday. Information from the Malaysian officials seems rather scarce and actual details are thin on the ground. After general speculation that the pilot may have made a request to return and then did so, the actual last known location is still highly speculated. With rumors that 2 passengers boarded the plane on fake documents have led to a plethora of analysts saying terrorism is to blame although even after 3 days of searching there has been no sightings of wreckage or updates on the planes location. The only real reaction to the disappearance is that Malaysian Airlines stock plummeted over 18% on early trading Monday. Considering the current climate surrounding the South China Sea and the many disputes regarding ownership of several groups of islands, the countries involved have all pulled together in the search for the missing plane. With Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines and Japan bringing the total to 9 nations involved with the search with 34 aircraft and over 40 ships searching the area.

Economic Data out of Asia this weekend was not particularly positive. China released its trade data and highlighted a 18.1% decline compared to February last year. This equates to a trade deficit of $22.98Bn and is the first time such a figure has surfaced. The main reason is down to the Chinese New Year but many analysts believe this is a sign of a weakening Chinese economy. This news also came as the first Chinese company to default on its bonds repayments, came to light. Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science and Technology Co. missed its February bond payments and has confirmed that it will look to sell several solar fields in Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and the US to meet its commitments.

Japanese was weak and they announced a revised 2013 economic growth rate down from 1% to 0.7% equating to a $15bn deficit, not seen since 1985.

Across the Pacific, US data announced late last week had a more positive spin. US jobs data was better than expected, posting 179K new jobs as opposed to the expected 149k. This along with the news that the unemployment rate increased slightly by 0.1% to 6.7% did very little to move the markets. Last week saw a significant reduction in volumes traded as investors look, watch and wait to see what is happening in Eastern Europe. After Mondays frantic reactions to what was happening in the Ukraine, markets settled and ended the week relatively flat across the board. This week it is expected to be similar with very little in the way of economic indicators due out this week.

Major Global Economic Indicators to watch out for Week Beginning 10th March:

US Retail Sales Data (Friday 14th)

US Consumer Activity and Sentiment (Friday 14th)

UK Inflation Report (Tuesday 11th)

Europe has no major indicators this week

The crisis in the Crimea region is still making the markets rather cautious as we move into a new trading week. With a referendum expected on the 16th it is expected that the majority of Ukrainians will vote to become part of Russia again. Over the weekend there were several peaceful demonstration for both sides and although this had potential to cause trouble within the city it was a quiet show of intentions. It appears that political pressure on Russia has eased over the past few days with the EU and Obama waiting to see the outcome of the voting. Harsh sanctions have been threatened however it looks like Europe at least has backed off from the rhetoric the United States was pushing and realised that their exposure to the former USSR is far too great to implement sanctions before the Ukraine has decided which side of the fence they want to be on. The markets initial reactions to the situation seem to have calmed however there is still a chance that developments may not go as expected and volume again this week across the markets is slated to be low as many fund managers play the waiting game.

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DISCLAIMER  The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this service are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hexagon Capital Management. All market data within this release is for your general information and enjoys indicative status only. Hexagon Capital Management does not accept any responsibility for its accuracy or for any use to which it may be put. All share prices and market indexes delayed at least 15 minutes. 52 week high and low values are calculated from close price data.