The EUR is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the NA session begins. China becomes an important driver as Shenzhen was put under lockdown due to Covid outbreak. Shenzhen is an important manufacturing hub in China. The Jilin region was also fresh lockdown measures. Hong Kong is also suffering from an outbreak of omicron. In separate news, US and China officials will be meeting in Rome in an attempt to limit/stop any aid that the Chinese may provide Russia that would undermine sanctions.
In Ukraine, there is further hopes for peace as officials suggested there may be soon produce a draft agreement. IN US, officials are supporting the idea that Russia is showing signs of movement toward agreement. Meanwhile, Russian military aggression in Ukraine continues unabated.
Crude oil is moving lower on the back of potential peace and lower demand from China lockdown.
US yields are higher. US stocks had the Dow up over 400 points but is up about 1/2 that gain currently. The Nasdaq has moved into negative territory.
The calendar in the US is empty with the Federal Reserve set to start their 2-day meeting tomorrow. The decision will be announced at 2 PM tomorrow with expectations of 25 basis points (although some may argue for a full 50 BPs as the Fed is increasingly behind the curve). Later this week, the UK is to continue it's tightening trajectory with its third hike that will take the target rate to 0.75%.
A snapshot of the market is showing:
- Spot gold is down -$23.61 or -1.19% at $1964.66
- Spot silver is down -$$0.56 or -2.17% at $25.29
- WTI crude oil is down -$4.99 at $104.34
- Bitcoin is trading at $38900 after trading in a relatively narrow range over the weekend between $37567 and $39458
IN the premarket for US stocks:
- Dow is up 234 points after falling -229.88 points on Friday
- S&P is up 15.44 points after falling -55.19 points on Friday
- Nasdaq is down -31 points after falling -286.15 points on Friday
In the European stock market, the major indices are pointing higher in trading today:
- German Dax +1.9%
- France's CAC +1.05%
- UK FTSE 100, +0.25%
- Spain's Ibex 0.8%
- Italy's FTSE MIB +1.5%
In the US debt market, the snapshot shows a continuation to the upside in yields. The benchmark 2 and 10 year yields are at the highest level since July 2019 ahead of the FOMC decision on Tuesday:
European benchmark yields are also trading mostly higher
