The USD is lower
As North American traders enter for the day, the AUD is the strongest and the CHF is the weakest. The GBP is rebounding after declines over the last few days on Brexit fears. Boris Johnson and Ursula von Der Leyen will be meeting in an attempt to get over the finish line. The CHF has been racing higher and trading to multi year lows (since 2015), but has reversed lower today. The USD is also lower today. Mnuchin proposed a $916 stimulus package which is counter to the idea from Mitch McConnell to trim the package to things that they could pass and leave things like state and local, and liability off the table. Dems still consider the deal unacceptable but called it "progress".
The ranges and changes are mixed with USDCHF, and USDJPY ranges at 20 and 27 pips low, while the GBPUSD, the AUDUSD and NZDUSD have ranges that are at or above the 22-day averages (that is where the action is so far today so far). The EURUSD and USDCAD ranges are lower than average but showing some heartbeat at least. The EURUSD, USDJPY and USDCHF are all trading close to unchanged on the day. The USDCAD is near lows for the day (higher CAD) ahead of the BOC rate decision. They are expected to keep rates unchanged. The QE and forward guidance are also expected to remain unchanged. There will be no updated forecasts and no post meeting presser). The decision will come at 10 AM ET.
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading down $10.50 -0.56% at $1859.96, after a few days of rising this week
- spot silver is trading down $0.16 -0.65% at $24.41
- WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.18 or 0.39%.. The private crude oil inventory data released late yesterday showed a surprise build. The expectations were for a drawdown of -1.035M. Below are the private API data results from yesterday
The US stock futures are implying a mixed opening:
- Dow industrial average up 81 points
- S&P index up 5.75 points
- NASDAQ -7.72 points
In the European equity markets, the major indices are trading higher:
- German DAX, +0.9%
- France's CAC, +0.25%
- UK's FTSE 100, +0.25%
- Spain's Ibex, +0.3%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.25%
In the US debt market, yields are higher than the yield curve is steeper by about 2 basis points (2 – 10 year spread). The US treasury will auction off 10 year notes at 1 PM ET today:
In the European debt market, yields are mixed with Germany, France, UK benchmark 10 year yields higher. Spain, Italy, Portugal yields are lower:
