The dollar continues to hold its ground on the week, helped by the FOMC meeting minutes release yesterday here.
The minutes while old, didn't do any harm to prospects of a 50 bps rate hike in May and that is what the market is running with for the time being. That said, Treasury yields are pulling back a little from the highs earlier this week with the overall risk mood also looking fairly more sour as tighter monetary policy, inflation worries, and the more dour outlook in China are playing out.
S&P 500 futures are down 0.4% after back-to-back declines in the past two days.
In FX, things are mostly little changed although commodity currencies are the laggards at the moment. AUD/USD is down 0.5% to 0.7476 and has all but erased its RBA jump and then some.
Meanwhile, oil is tracking back below $100 after a late drop yesterday but buyers are still holding on at the lower end of the $95 to $125 range at least, so that is keeping things a bit more interesting towards the end of the week.
Looking ahead, data releases will mean little once again as the focus continues to stay on central banks, inflation talk, and the bond market for the most part.
0545 GMT - Switzerland March unemployment rate
0600 GMT - Germany February industrial output
0600 GMT - UK March Halifax house prices
0700 GMT - Switzerland March foreign exchange reserves
0900 GMT - Eurozone February retail sales data
At 1130 GMT, the ECB will also release the account of its latest monetary policy meeting although that should not tell us much of anything new.
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there.
