The market remains in a cautious mood so far awaiting US president Trump's announcement on China later today
Stocks are trading on more defensive on the session, with European equities down by around 0.6% to 0.8% while US futures are seen lower by about 0.4% at the moment.
Treasury yields are also keeping a tad lower with 10-year yields down by 2 bps to 0.669%, though Treasuries have not been any great indicator of market sentiment lately.
Over to the major currencies space, the euro is continuing to keep firmer as it closes in on the late March highs at 1.1147-63 against the dollar. EUR/GBP is also breaking higher to fresh two-month highs above 0.9000 and that is keeping the pound a tad softer.
The yen is among the lead gainers as well with the dollar keeping mostly lower across the board, even against risk currencies, amid some month-end rebalancing flows.
The more cautious tone during the session owes much to the anticipation ahead of US president Trump's press conference on China that is to come later today.
I reckon we can expect this some time during the afternoon in Washington and possibly close to the market close if anything else.
It is going to be a matter of interpreting the rhetoric and how hard of a line he wants to draw against China, as he weighs the current situation to his election chances.
As such, investors can only be left guessing at the moment as we count down to what Trump has to say later in the trading day before the weekend comes.
On a side note, don't forget that he is still having his ongoing feud with Twitter and that could impact tech stocks as well. A rotation from out of tech to value and the potential escalation in US-China relations are going to present a real challenge for the equities rally.
