It’s an ugly day in emerging markets today with severe signs of strain hitting:
- Argentina’s peso is down 17.% in the worst daily fall since 2002 after the central bank gave up intervening to preserve reserves. The main Merval index (an outperformer in 2013) is down 14% today.
- Ukraine protesters and the government have agreed to talks but the country is on the verge of martial law
- Turkey’s lira hit an all-time low, falling 1.7% after the central bank made an unscheduled intervention. Shares were down 4.2%
- The South African rand broke 11, to a five-year low as mining workers began a strike demanding a doubling in pay
One way to trade trouble around the world is a short in NZD/JPY. The pair is showing signs of rolling over as it struggles to break above the 2013 highs.
