The USD is mixed ahead of the jobless claims numbers
The GBP is the strongest and the CAD is the weakest as North American traders enter for the day. The USD is mixed with gains vs CAD and NZD and declines vs the GBP. The EUR, JPY, CHF and AUD are all near unchanged levels. The markets are relatively quiet in preparation for the US initial claims data to be released at the bottom of the hour with expectations for another oversized 5500K increase (last week, +6648K). OPEC+s meeting is also a focus today with the market looking for cuts in production in order to sap some of the excess supply as a result of the coronavirus. Fed's Powell is also due to speak at the Brookings Institute at 10 AM ET. Are the markets (and the dollar) in a calm before the storm mood? It seems that way.
The ranges and changes are again showing price action that is lower than the average over the last month of trading. The USDJPY only has a 31 pips range and trades near unchanged (+3 pips). the USDCHF (+1 pip), EURUSD (+3 pips) and AUDUSD (+1 pip) are all little changed and trading near the middle of an up and down range today. The GBPUSD has also moved lower and is now up on the day by 37 pips. Overall there is a lot of up and down today as the market looks for the next directional bias.
In other markets:
- Spot gold is up $15.45 or 0.94% $1661.67
- WTI crude oil futures are up $0.80 or 3.15% at $25.89
in the premarket for US equities, the futures are implying a lower opening:
- Dow -231 points
- NASDAQ index -100 points
- S&P index -31 points
in the European equity markets the major indices are mostly higher:
- German DAX, +0.35%
- France's CAC, +0.2%
- UK's FTSE 100, +1.2%
- Spain's Ibex, +0.6%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.6%
in the US debt market, yields are trading lower after a few days of moving higher. The 10 year is leading the way at -4.7 basis points.
In debt market, the yields are also moving lower across the board with the France benchmark 10 year yield down -6.6 basis points.
