Headlines:
- Nvidia spirits continue to uplift equities on the day
- Traders lean towards a June rate cut for the ECB now
- ECB accounts: Broad consensus that it was premature to discuss rate cuts
- France February flash services PMI 48.0 vs 45.6 expected
- Germany February flash manufacturing PMI 42.3 vs 46.1 expected
- Eurozone February flash services PMI 50.0 vs 48.8 expected
- UK February flash services PMI 54.3 vs 54.1 expected
- France February business confidence 98 vs 98 prior
- Eurozone January final CPI +2.8% vs +2.8% y/y prelim
- Japan finance minister says there is no 'defense line' in exchange rate
Markets:
- AUD and NZD lead, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 1.3%
- US 10-year yields up 1.1 bps to 4.334%
- Gold up 0.1% to $2,027.41
- WTI crude down 0.2% to $77.15
- Bitcoin up 0.1% to $51,470
The dollar struggled in European trading as risk trades soared higher following Nvidia's earnings beat in after hours yesterday. The chipmaker is carrying the weight of the world on its back and they're certainly not fazed by that challenge.
Equities ran higher during the session with tech shares leading the way. Nasdaq futures are up a little over 2% with S&P 500 futures seen up 1.3% currently. European indices may not be tech heavy but they are still able to ride on the wave of optimism, with the DAX and CAC 40 trading to fresh record highs.
Going back to FX, EUR/USD raced higher to 1.0888 following a more upbeat French PMI data but was brought back down after a disappointing German PMI data. The pair is still up 0.2% to 1.0843 currently.
Elsewhere, the dollar is off its lows against other major currencies as well. GBP/USD touched 1.2700 briefly before holding around 1.2665 now. Meanwhile, AUD/USD is up 0.3% to 0.6567 after having touched a high of 0.6595 earlier. And NZD/USD while still up by 0.3% to 0.6198, is off its earlier high of 0.6218.
Coming up, we have the US weekly jobless claims and PMI data. Let's see how that works into the mix and also if Wall Street will be as enthusiastic to keep the risk optimism intact.
