Headlines:
- Equities shrug off the early optimism
- ECB's Muller: It is still possible to hike rates further
- BOE's Bailey: I don't think recent bank problems are causing stress in the UK
- France March business confidence 103 vs 103 prior
- EU banking regulator (EBA) head warns " risks in the financial system remain very high"
Markets:
- NZD leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities slightly higher; S&P 500 futures flat
- US 10-year yields up 3.6 bps to 3.563%
- Gold flat at $1,957.33
- WTI crude up 0.4% to $73.12
- Bitcoin up 0.2% to $27,108
It was a quiet session for the most part as markets are taking a bit of a breather, after having come to terms with the end of the banking turmoil. There were mixed tones across the board with equities seen higher early on before paring those gains while bond yields were initially lower in Asia, before turning higher in European morning trade.
The dollar though was slightly lower throughout, struggling to find much of a footing but there was no major extensions to the ranges among major currencies since the handover from Asia trading.
EUR/USD is up 0.3% to 1.0830 from around 1.0815 earlier in the day while GBP/USD is up 0.3% as well to 1.2320 but fluctuating between that and 1.2290 for the most part. Meanwhile, USD/JPY moved up from 130.50 to 131.30 as bond yields recovered only to fall back to just below 131.00 at the moment.
The antipodeans are keeping higher and have been holding on to gains throughout, with AUD/USD up 0.5% to 0.6680 and NZD/USD up 0.6% to 0.6230 currently. Those levels are still keeping within the ranges we have seen in the past two weeks, so they aren't really anything to shout about.
While markets may be seeing the banking turmoil ebb, there is still some caution in the air as we look towards month-end and quarter-end trading alongside inflation data still to come in Europe and US later in the week.