Headlines:
- Dollar still going nowhere for the most part - for now at least
- France's CAC 40 index briefly hits record high as European stocks continue to sizzle
- BOJ raises minimum fee rate for three on-the-run 10-year JGB issues
- Japan bank lobby group chief expects BOJ to exit from easy policy if conditions are right
- ECB's Panetta says should not unconditionally pre-commit to future policy moves
- Coal confusion signals that Australia-China relations are still shaky
Markets:
- JPY leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 1.5 bps to 3.791%
- Gold flat at $1,836.93
- WTI crude up 0.2% to $78.78
- Bitcoin up 1.4% to $24,515
It was a quiet session for the most part with a lack of key economic data releases not giving market players much to work with.
Things are settling down after the big data events in the US over the past two days, with the dollar slightly weaker earlier on before keeping little changed now as risk sentiment wavers ahead of North American trading.
The risk mood was slightly positive earlier in the session with US futures marginally higher, before turning slightly lower now. That said, European stocks are still in a world of their own as we saw the France CAC 40 index hit a record high during the session.
In terms of meaningful moves in the dollar, there wasn't any and the technicals also signal that the greenback isn't really going anywhere for the time being.
There will be another round of notable economic data releases in the US later on but otherwise, this seems to be a rather choppy and tentative market as traders and investors are still largely digesting the mood music this week.
