The AUD is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest as the NA session begins

The AUD AUD The Australian dollar (AUD) is the official currency of Australia, which is also used in Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, as well as independent pacific states.Introduced in 1966, the AUD is currently the fifth most traded currency in the world, behind only the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and British pound.The currency is very important to forex markets and is routinely used as a carry trade against other majors.The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is the central bank The Australian dollar (AUD) is the official currency of Australia, which is also used in Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, as well as independent pacific states.Introduced in 1966, the AUD is currently the fifth most traded currency in the world, behind only the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and British pound.The currency is very important to forex markets and is routinely used as a carry trade against other majors.The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is the central bank Read this Term is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest in the morning snapshot as North American trader enter for the day. The currencies are scrunched together in an up and down session so far.

The USD is tilting lower/mixed. Nancy Pelosi promised that the US would not abandon Taiwan. China responded by announcing 4 days of live-fire drills around the island nation.

Fed officials have come out of the FOMC meeting last week with the theme that the Fed is not neccesarily as data dependent as the Chair portrayed during his pressers but that inflation Inflation Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is m Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is m Read this Term had a long way to go with headline CPI still being at 9%. James Bullard still wants to see rates reaching 3.75% to 4%. He sees rates higher for longer in order to get inflation to come down in a convincing fashion. He is a guest on CNBC this morning.

The Fed is scared that a rising stock market and lower yields will give investors additional confidence to push up prices more. At least that is the view of most Fed officials. They are not ready to stop.

US yields are marginally higher in early trading a day after the 10 year yield moved up over 17 basis points yesterday. US stocks are higher after the Dow fell the most in a month (Caterpillar was a big contributor to the decline). The US stocks are on a two day losing streak to start the new trading month.

Crude oil is higher after an up and down yesterday.

A snapshot of the market shows:

• spot gold is up $4.57 or 0.26% at $1764.60
• spot silver is up $0.10 or 0.48% of $20.03
• WTI crude oil is $1.40 and $95.81
• The price bitcoin is trading at $23,411. The low for the day reached $22,686 before rebounding back to the upside

In the European equity markets, major indices are up modestly:

• German DAX said it is up 0.21%
• France's CAC is up 0.38%
• UK's FTSE 100 up 0.14%
• Spain's Ibex is up 0.53%
• Italy's FTSE MIB +0.17%

In the US debt market, the yields are higher across the curve:

• 2 year 3.108%, +5.5 basis points
• 5 year 2.897% +3.9 basis points
• 10 year 2.790%, +3.8 basis points
• 30 year 3.035%, +2.5 basis points

In the European debt market, yields are higher in reaction to the US run up, what the US to German 10 year spread is also wider at 1.90%. It was hanging around 1.83% earlier this week.