Headlines:
- Dollar nudges a little lower with eyes on the US jobs report
- Non-farm payrolls in the spotlight but there are other things brewing in markets
- UK public inflation expectations rose higher to start the new year
- The rout in Chinese equities stays the course as last week's rebound gets faded
- China growth to gradually slow further in the next few years - IMF
Markets:
- AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.7%
- US 10-year yields up 1.7 bps to 3.879%
- Gold flat at $2,055.44
- WTI crude up 0.1% to $73.92
- Bitcoin up 0.2% to $43,191
It was a quiet session and unsurprisingly so I would say. All eyes are on the US jobs report coming up later and there was no real appetite in markets to go running before that.
The dollar is mostly steadier, just marginally lower at the balance. The sluggishness is more apparent against the aussie and kiwi, though nothing too outstanding. AUD/USD is up 0.5% to 0.6605 but is trading back in its consolidation range with the ceiling around 0.6615-25 still holding.
Besides that, the bond market is keeping calmer so far today - at least for now. 10-year Treasury yields are up slightly but as we have seen during the course of this week, the bids tend to come later in US trading. Will it be the case once again today?
As for equities, tech shares are continuing the rebound from yesterday. S&P 500 futures are now up 0.7% with Nasdaq futures up 1.1% on the day.
It's now up to the non-farm payrolls data to offer the next play for markets before we wrap things up on the week.