– Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today. Nikkei gained 1.2%, S&P/ASX 200 traded flat, Nifty 50 moved 0.5% higher and Kospi plunged 1%

– In spite of a beat in Chinese activity data for December and GDP data for 2022, indices from China traded mostly lower. Hang Seng was top laggard with a 1.1% drop

– DAX futures point to a more or less flat opening of the European cash session

– China reported a GDP growth of 2.9% YoY for Q4 2022 (exp. 1.8% YoY). GDP growth in full-2022 reached 3% 

– Chinese industrial production increased 1.3% YoY in December (exp. 0.2% YoY), retail sales were 1.8% lower (exp. -8.5% YoY) while urban investments climbed 5.1% YoY (exp. 5.0% YoY)

– According to Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese population dropped by around 850 thousand last year, marking the first population fall since 1961

– BoE Governor Bailey said that Bank of England booked a profit of 3.8 billion GBP on emergency bond purchases it made after former PM Truss announced her fiscal plan last year

– JPY is one of the worst performing G10 currencies after 10-year Japanese yield rose above upper limit of 0.5% and BoJ was forced once again to stepped into the market and purchase bonds 

– Japanese government will announce nominees to for the next BoJ Governor on Friday

– Cryptocurrencies are trading mixed with major coins pulling back. Bitcoin drops 0.5%, Ethereum trades 1.2% lower and Litecoin dips 0.4%

– Oil is trading around 0.5% higher while US natural gas prices rise over 3%

– Precious metals pull back with silver dropping 0.8% and gold trading 0.4% lower

– NZD and CHF are the best performing major currencies while JPY and GBP lag the most