The USD is mixed
As the North American session begins, the AUD is the strongest of the major currencies while the JPY is the weakest. The USD is mixed with modest gains vs the JPY, CHF, EUR and GBP, and bigger declines vs the AUD, NZD and CAD. A better tone from higher crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia increase its official selling price. Also Chinese export data raised hope that the recovery from the coronavirus will be quicker. The negative is the potential for increased tension between US and China as a result of blame for the coronavirus. US stocks are set to open higher, while yields are little changed.
The commodity currencies (CAD, AUD and NZD) are all trading near their highs for the day. The EURUSD, GBPUSD are trading near unchanged in up and down trading. The EURUSD trading range is a scant 38 pips from high to low. The GBPUSD spiked higher but moved back down on volatility from the BOE decision.
In other markets:
- spot gold is up $8.86 or 0.52% at $1694.53
- WTI crude oil futures are trading up $2.32 or 9.67% at $26.34
in the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are higher
- Dow, +273 points
- NASDAQ index up 108 points
- S&P index up 36 points
in the European markets, the major indices are trading higher:
- German DAX, +1%
- France CAC, +1.36%
- UK's FTSE 100, +1.2%
- Spain's Ibex, +0.4%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +1.4%
In the US debt market, yields are marginally changed with the yield curve spread between the 2-10 year yields near unchanged at 52 basis points.
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are mixed with Germany and Italian yields marginally lower. UK yields are up 2 point basis points.
