Headlines:
- China reportedly working on a plan to scrap Covid flight suspensions
- China says "not aware" of report that it is preparing to end Covid flight suspensions
- China to make significant changes to Covid policy soon, says former government expert
- BOE's Pill: We still think there is more to do on inflation pressures
- BOE's Hauser says "wait and see" on gilt sales
- Germany September industrial orders -4.0% vs -0.5% m/m expected
- Eurozone September PPI +1.6% vs +1.7% m/m expected
- Eurozone October final services PMI 48.6 vs 48.2 prelim
Markets:
- AUD leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.7%
- US 10-year yields up 3 bps to 4.154%
- Gold up 1.3% to $1,650.68
- WTI crude up 3.7% to $91.43
- Bitcoin up 1.7% to $20,584
European trading today was meant to be more of a placeholder session ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report later today. However, hope is a powerful thing as markets caught whiff of another China reopening headline and domestic stocks soared. The positive sentiment spilled over with US futures ticking higher while the dollar sagged across the board.
The greenback is under pressure against the commodity currencies in particular, with the aussie choosing to realign itself with Chinese stocks today. AUD/USD is up 1.4% to 0.6380, advancing from around 0.6340 in the handover from Asia. Meanwhile, USD/CAD is down 0.9% to 1.3620 and NZD/USD is up 1.1% to 0.5840 on the day currently.
The dollar's sluggishness also sees EUR/USD up 0.5% to near 0.9800 while GBP/USD is up 0.4% to 1.1210 with the high earlier touching 1.1250 as the pound looked to try and claw back some of its post-BOE drop.
In the commodities space, gold is up over 1% as it bounces off the September and October lows to around $1,650 while oil is benefitting strongly from the China headlines as it is up nearly 4% to above $91.
Well, over to the US jobs report now.
