TGIF.
It is Friday, and to start the trading day in North America, the USD is the strongest of the major currencies and the AUD is the weakest. The economic calendar is limited todaywith the Conference Board consumer confidence the only US release. Canada has the ubiquitous Foreign Securities Purchased numbers scheduled . In Europe, EU final CPI data came in spot on the expectations.
ECBs de Guindos commented overnight that sees inflation moving toward 2% goal in 2025. Nothing new there.
Geopolitial tensions remain high with the US saying they will agree to a Rafah operation but on conditions. Russia and Ukraine had some headlines cross.
US stocks are little changed to start the day. Yields in the US are higher.
A snapshot of the other markets as the North American session begins shows
- Crude oil is trading down $0.60 or -0.76% at $78.70. At this time yesterday, the price was at $78.77
- Gold is trading up $13.46 or 0.57% at $2389.70. At this time yesterday, the price was higher at $2384.50
- Silver is trading up $0.19 for 0.65% at $29.75. At this time yesterday, the price was at $29.65
- Bitcoin currently trades at $66,272. At this time yesterday, the price was trading at $66,581
In the premarket, the major indices are little changed. Yesterday the three major indices closed lower after record high closes on Wednesday for the big three
- Dow Industrial Average futures are implying a gain of 21.02 points. Yesterday, the index fell -38.62 points or -0.10% at 39869.39
- S&P futures are implying a gain of 1.75 points. Yesterday the index fell -11.05 points or -0.20% at 5297.09
- Nasdaq futures are implying a decline of 17.25 points. Yesterday the index fell -44.07 points or -0.26% at 16698.32
European stock indices are trading lower:
- German DAX, -0.35%
- France CAC , -0.49%
- UK FTSE 100, -0.39%
- Spain's Ibex, unchanged
- Italy's FTSE MIB, -0.16% (delayed 10 minutes).
Shares in the Asian Pacific markets were higher after the strong gains in the US yesterday:
- Japan's Nikkei 225, -0.34%. For the week the index rose 1.46%.
- China's Shanghai Composite Index, +1.01%. For the week the index fell -0.16%
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, +0.91%. For the week the index rose 3.11%.
- Australia S&P/ASX index, -0.85%. For the week the index rose 0.8%
Looking at the US debt market, yields are mostly higher after yesterday's rise:
- 2-year yield 4.795%, -0.2 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.748%
- 5-year yield 4.413%, +1.0 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.353%
- 10-year yield 4.394%, +1.9 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.332%
- 30-year yield 4.540%, +2.5 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.479%
Looking at the treasury yield curve spreads:
- The 2-10 year spread is at -40.3 basis points. At this time yesterday, the spread was at -41.7 basis points.
- The 2-30 year spread is at -25.6 basis points. At this time yesterday, the spread was at -27.1 basis points.
European benchmark 10-year yields are mixed:
