The AUD is the strongest and the GBP is the weakest as NA traders enter for the day
The USD is weaker vs the majors
As the North American session begins, the AUD is the strongest and the GBP is the weakest. The USD is most lower but relatively modestly. It is Friday which can lead to profit taking flows or other position changing price action as the markets prepare for the weekend. The US stocks are mixed as the likes of Intel and Snap (and other social media stocks including Facebook) are sharply lower after earnings disappointments. The US yields higher with the 10 year trading to a high of 1.700% which is the highest level since April. The high for the year reached 1.774% back on March 30.
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading up $10.80 or 0.61% at $1793.62
- Spot silver is trading up $0.17 or 0.78% $24.32
- WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.81 or 0.98% $83.31
- Bitcoin is up $1022 or 1.64% at $63,245
In the premarket for US stocks, the futures are implying that the major indices are mixed with the NASDAQ down while the Dow and S&P are trading higher. The S&P is on a seven day win streak and closed at a record level yesterday:
- Dow industrial average +79 points after yesterday’s -6.26 point decline
- S&P index up 4.5 points after yesterday’s 13.59 point rise. The S&P closed at a record level yesterday
- NASDAQ index down -31 points after yesterday’s 94.02 point in S&P up 4.5 points
In the European equity markets, the major indices are trading higher:
- German Dax, +0.8%
- France’s CAC, +0.9%
- UK’s FTSE 100 +0.55%
- Spain’s Ibex, unchanged
- Italy’s FTSE MIB +0.5%
In the US debt market, the yields are higher with the biggest jobs in the shorter end