The USD is mostly higher
As the North American session begins, the NZD is the strongest of the major currencies. The CHF is the weakest. The USD is mostly higher but with all of the gains vs the CHF, EUR and a lesser extent,the AUD. The USD is modestly lower vs the NZD. The USDCHF (and CHF pairs) trended higher with the pair breaking above the recent ceiling high at 0.92414 (highest level since July 8th). The EURUSD had a similar looking trend fall and traded to the lowest level since August 27th. US retail sales will highlight the economic releases today. With the expectations for -0.7% for the headline and near -0.1% for the core measure. The Philly Fed index for September (18.9 estimate) will also be released. Recall the Empire manufacturing yesterday came in better than expected.
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading down $23 or -1.29% $1771.40.
- Spot silver is down $0.50 or -2.07% $22.33
- WTI crude oil futures are modestly lower by $0.23 or -0.30% $72.39
- Bitcoin is trading down $225 and $47,925
In the premarket for US stocks, the futures are implying a lower opening after yesterday's gains. The NASDAQ index snapped a five day losing streak yesterday.
- S&P -10 points versus yesterday's gain of 37.63 points
- Dow industrial average -57.39 points after yesterday's gain of 236.82 points
- NASDAQ index -46 points after yesterday's 123.77 point rise
In the European markets, the major indices are trading higher on follow-through buying from the New York afternoon session yesterday:
- German DAX +0.34%
- France's CAC +0.9%
- UK's FTSE 100, +0.2%
- Spain's Ibex, +0.8%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.8%
In the US debt market, the yields are higher with the 10 year up 1.2 basis point:
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are mixed with Spain and Italy down marginally:
