Morning Report 9 Sept 19: Investors on edge after weaker economic readings

In US economic data, non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 130,000 in August (forecast +160,000). The unemployment rate was steady at 3.7% as expected. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.4% (forecast +0.3%) to be up 3.2% on the year (forecast +3.0%).

 US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said that the Federal Reserve will "act as appropriate" to sustain the US economic expansion. The Fed chair also downplayed the prospect of a global or US recession.

 In Chinese economic data, exports fell by 1.0% in the year to August (forecast +2.2%) and imports fell by 5.6% (forecast -6.4%). The trade surplus fell from US$44.61 billion to US$34.84 billion (forecast US$40 billion).

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