Forex news for North American trading on March 26, 2021.
- Major indices close higher and near the highs for the day
- CFTC Commitments of Traders: The JPY shorts increase.
- For the week, the USD is the strongest while the NZD is the weakest of the majors
- France reports 41,869 new cases. Deaths rise by 897.
- Baker Hughes oil rig counts rise to 324 from 318 last week
- BOE Tenreyro: There remains a number of scenarios that would anticipate looser policy
- European shares end higher across the board
- Canada budget deficit C$20.01 billion versus Jan 2020 surplus of C$415 million
- Germany raises Covid warnings
- US is averaging 57K covid cases per day. On the rise.
- Italy PM Draghi: Over the coming month EU countries need to increase fiscal spending
- University of Michigan sentiment index for March (F) been 84.9 versus 83.6 estimate
- Sec of Transportation Buttigieg: Some deficit infrastucture financing may make sense
- BOE's Saunders: Overall financial conditions have not changed that much since the start of the year
- Fed's Harker: There are wage pressures in certain sectors but not across the board
- US February PCE core +1.4% y/y vs +1.5% expected
- US wholesale inventories for February (preliminary) +0.5% versus +0.8% estimate
- US advance goods trade balance for February $-86.7 billion vs $-86.0 billion estimate
- The NZD is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest as NA traders enter
A snapshot of markets near the close of the day/week shows:
- Spot gold is up $5.59 or 0.32% at $1732.52. For the week gold fell $12.73 or -0.73%
- Spot silver is down $0.02 or -0.09% at $25.04. For the week, silver fell $1.20 worth -4.6%
- WTI crude oil futures are up $2.26 or 3.86% at $60.82. For the week crude oil fell $0.59 or -0.96%
- The price of bitcoin today rebounded $2100 or 4.06% to $54,120. The high price today reached $54,322.25. The low price extended to $51,235.25. Last Friday, the price of bitcoin closed at $58,026. at $54,120, the price has declined $3906 or 6.73%
In the US stocks today, the major indices all close higher as a late day buying pushed the indices to new highs. The gains were led by the S&P index which rose 1.66%. The Dow increased 1.39% and the Nasdaq rose 1.24%.
For the week, the S&P index rose by 1.57% and the Dow increased by 1.36%. The NASDAQ fell for the 5th week in 6 by -0.58% as the rotation continues out of the high flyers of 2020 and into the more cyclical stocks. Major European indices ended mostly higher with the France's CAC and exception. Japan's Nika index was also lower on the week.
In the US debt market, yields moved higher with the 10 year up 3.8 basis points. The 2-10 year spread also widened to 153.2 basis points from 149.65 basis points at the close yesterday.
For the week, yields were still lower. The 30 year yield fell by -5.76 basis points. The 10 year is down by -5.03 basis points. The 2-10 year spread narrrowed by about 4 basis points on the week.
Looking at the benchmark 10 year yields in Europe and US shows, the trend was to the downside this week with the UK 10 year falling -8.10 basis points.
In the forex, despite the fall in yields and rise in the S&P and Dow this week, the USD was the strongest of the major currencies while the NZD was the weakest. The USD was the least strong vs the GBP with a gain of 0.63%. The dollar rose by 2.48% vs the NZD.
On the day, the AUD was the strongest and the JPY was the weakest. The USD had a corrective day lower today vs. most of the major currencies. The exception was a gain vs the JPY or 0.43%. The dollar lost the most vs the AUD a -0.74%. It fell -0.60% vs the NZD.
