The AUD is the strongest and the NZD is the weakest as NA traders enter for the day
The USD is weaker
As the North American session gets underway, the AUD is the strongest and the NZDUSD is the weakest. Asian shares rebounded higher to start the week, despite the weakest China Caixan PMI index since April 2020 (50.3 - just above the expansion benchmark). The EU PMIs came in near expecatations with limited impact (the US ISM manufacturing index will be released at 10 AM today). German retail sales were better than expected at 4.2% vs 1.9% estimate. US stocks are higher in pre-market. Yields in the US remain low with the 10 year around 1.22%-1.23%. Feds Kashkari and Brainard warned potential headlines from the the Delta variant. A total of 122,000 new cases were reported on Sunday. That is the highest since February (the good news is that the death rate remains low). The U.S. Senate reached a agreement on the wording for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. That leads the way for a vote in the Senate as early as this week. The voting in the House of Representatives might not go as well as speaker Pelosi has tied the bill to an additional $3.5 trillion spending package.
A look at markets shows:
- Spot gold is trading down -7 dollars and -0.3% at $1807.50.
- Spot silver is down five cents -0.20% at $25.40
- WTI crude oil futures are down $0.89 or -1.2% $72.78
- the price of bitcoin is trading at $39,505.18, just below the $40,000 level. The price high over the weekend reaches highs $42,400
In the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are higher after Friday’s declines.
- Dow up 120.53 points after Friday’s -150 point decline
- S&P up 20.5 points after Friday’s -23.8 point decline
- Nasdaq is up 80 points after Friday’s -105.59 point point
in the European equity markets, the major indices are trading higher:
- German DAX, +0.1%
- France’s CAC, +0.7%
- UK’s FTSE 100, +0.6%
- Spain’s Ibex, +1.0%
- Italy’s FTSE MIB, +0.2%
A quick look at the US debt market shows yields mostly lower.