Five themes are driving markets early this week

The market hasn't made any big moves so far but a few are beginning to brew

1. Yen strength

This is all about negative sentiment in stocks. USD/JPY is down 27 pips. The Nikkei finished the morning session down 1.14%, Shanghai stocks are down 0.54% and S&P 500 futures are down 0.4%. Earlier I wrote about why stock markets could fall early this week.

2. GBP strength

The pound is keeping pace with the yen, up about 20 pips. But let's put that into perspective; since the high on September 18, cable has been in a 6 day, nearly 500 pips swoon. A 20 pip bounce doesn't even qualify as a dead cat bounce. I highlighted some levels earlier.

3. Oil weakness

All else being equal, sell oil. Crude is down about 1%. Rig count numbers on Friday were bullish but a small bounce was wiped out quickly. Earlier last week, inventory numbers were bullish but a bounce was wiped out within hours and oil finished way down. At some point this year, oil storage capacity will max out and it will be dumped onto the market at any price.

4. Bonds bid

Bonds are catching a small bid, pushing 10-year US yields down 2 bps in early trading. There was talk of a China bid but it's also part of the risk aversion theme.

5. China worries, China stimulus

Two stories out of China early this week. The first is a plunge in industrial profits (negative) but the second is about fresh stimulus (potentially very positive). The second story hasn't gotten much traction yet but I think it could.