Headlines:
Markets:
- GBP leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields down 2.3 bps to 3.651%
- Gold up 0.3% to $1,880.13
- WTI crude up 1.0% to $77.93
- Bitcoin down 0.1% to $23,170
It was a very quiet session in European trading today as markets settle down after the swingy moves yesterday, following Fed chair Powell’s remarks. Major currencies were stuck in a narrow range in Asia but extended that by just a bit, with the dollar holding slightly lower on the day.
EUR/USD moved up a little to 1.0740-50 levels while GBP/USD is pushing up by 0.4% to sit close to 1.2100 during the session. Commodity currencies are also holding light gains but they aren’t anything to shout about, though AUD/USD did come close to clip 0.7000 again before trading around 0.6970 levels at the moment.
In the equities space, European indices are higher in playing catch up to the gains in Wall Street yesterday while US futures are fairly more cautious with S&P 500 futures seen down 0.3% after a slow start earlier in the day.
The risk mood remains the key driver to be mindful of as we look towards US trading and the question is, will we see dip buyers step back in again? Otherwise, it might be quite a long wait until the US CPI data next week for any firm direction in markets.