Asian stock markets have recorded index declines this morning due to renewed concerns for a military conflict between North and South Korea. As such, the Tokyo stock exchange declined by 0.9%, the Shanghai exchange dived by 1.4%, the Hong Kong stock exchange dropped 0.3% and the Singapore stock exchange fell by about 0.5%.
In the American macroeconomic arena, no major new data are expected today. Tomorrow, the Department of Commerce is expected to publish the final GDP data for the third quarter, while the NAR will publish data regarding existing home sales for November. On Thursday the Department of Commerce will publish the data on non-consumable good orders and private spending and income data. On Friday there will not be trading on Wall Street due to the Christmas vacations.
In Europe, last week's decision by the Moody's credit rating agency to lower Ireland's credit rating by five levels, as well as concerns for a possible lowering of the rating for Ireland and Spain are weighing down on the European currency, which has weakened against all leading global currencies, falling to an unprecedented low against the Swiss franc. The dollar is strengthening against the majority of currencies, reaching a three-day high against the Euro.
The weakening of the Euro has as its background also a surprising drop in consumer confidence in the Eurozone. Preliminary data of the European Commission's index have shown that the index had dropped in December to a level of -11 points, as compared to -9.4 points in November, while analysts have predicted a rise to a -9 point level. This is the first decline in six months.
