The USD is mixed
It is hard to rank weeks, but this week is setting up as the week of all weeks.
As North American traders enter for the day, there are a lot of question marks with the stock market open as question number 1. Stock futures are locked at limit down. Where do markets open? As Justin points out, there are circuit breaking levels at 7%, 13% and 20% (market closes at 20%) for the S&P. The SPY ETF is currently down about -7%.
The next question is the response from the central banks/governments. Yields in the US are all below 1%.
The next question is what happens with OPEC and with OPEC and the US. The Saudi move in response to Russia's unwillingness to cut production is a killer to them and to the US shale producers.
And then there is the coronavirus.
How the week ends up is a question mark too, but today is like no other.
In the forex today, the snapshot is showing the JPY and CHF are the runaway strongest. Those currencies are the "safe-haven" flow. The CAD and AUD are the weakest. With oil down -22% on the day currently, that really hurts the CAD. The AUD and NZD are 'risk off' currencies as well (demand for commodities).
The snapshot of the ranges are showing big oversized moves. Ranges of over 118 pips for all the major currencies vs the USD. The USDJPY is down over 300 pips. The AUDUSD and NZDUSD are way off their lows for the day, but still lower vs the USD. Traders have rethought the initial Asian session rout.
In other markets:
- Spot gold has had an up and down day. The current price is up $4 or 0.24%
- WTI crude oil is down $9.36 or -22.3% at $31.94
The US yields are crashing with the 10 year down -30.3 bps to 0.459%. The 30 year is down -3.96 bps.
The European benchmark 10 year yields are mixed with Germany France and UK yields lower while investors are shunning Spain, Italy (especially), and Portugal.
In the European equity market,
- German DAX, -7.1%
- France's CAC, -7.2%
- UK FTSE 100, -6.8%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, -10.1%
- Spain's Ibex, -7.4%
