Headlines:
Markets:
- Euro and British Pound Lead, USD and CAD Lag on the Day
- European stocks mixed; S&P 500 futures up 0.1%
- US 10-year bond yields steady at 3.768%
- Gold rises 0.9% to $2,516.01
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $69.53.
- Bitcoin down 2.2% to $56,740
The session was fairly quiet and understandably so, as market players await key US data later before making any moves.
In the coming period, we will deal with the ADP employment change, weekly initial jobless claims, and the ISM services PMI. So, traders are not committing much at the moment.
The dollar was mostly little changed, but is now slightly lower across the board. EUR/USD was mostly flat around 1.1080-90, but is now up 0.2% at 1.1105. Similarly, GBP/USD was flat around 1.3150-60 during the session before rising to 1.3170 currently.
These moves are by no means drastic. But they certainly raise concerns for the dollar, especially after the weak job openings in the US yesterday.
The USD/JPY pair remains one of the most volatile pairs, having dropped to 143.05 following the Bank of Japan’s Takata comments earlier in the day. The pair then rebounded to 143.50 and remains at that level, down just 0.1% on the day.
In equities, European indices opened lower but now remain more mixed with US futures paring marginal losses to settle slightly higher on the day. Treasury yields are also doing little as all eyes are on key US data.
Looking at commodities, oil is trying to stay afloat after yesterday’s setback but is still holding below $70 on the day. Meanwhile, gold looks set to attempt a stronger breakout as it hovers around $2516 now.
It all depends on the US data that will be released later to determine the next move in the markets before the non-farm payrolls report tomorrow.