- US Q4 advance GDP +2.9% vs +2.6% expected
- US December durable goods orders +5.6% vs -2.5% expected
- US weekly initial jobless claims 186K vs +205K expected
- US December advance goods trade balance -90.30B vs -$83.35B prior
- US December advance wholesale inventories +0.1% vs +1.0% prior
- EU is mulling a price cap on Russian refined products rather than a ban
- Aviation remains a spot to watch for US consumer trends
- Steel Dynamics CEO says he doesn't see the doom and gloom everyone else is seeing
- US sells 7-year notes at 3.517% vs 3.538% WI
Markets:
- S&P 500 up 40 points, or 1%, to 4072
- WTI crude oil up 89-cents to $81.03
- Gold down $17 to $1929
- US 10-year yields up 3.6 bps to 3.49%
- CAD leads, JPY lags
It was a choppy day in the market as the market digested a handful of economic releases at once. The GDP report was above estimates but the consumer spending portion of it was on the soft side, raising concerns about demand going forward. At the same time, initial jobless claims are at the lowest since April and durable goods orders were hot, at least on the headline.
Initially, the US dollar rallied on the data but that quickly reversed and it fell to a session low against the commodity currencies. Equities then opened strong before they swung wildly between big gains and flat trading. Ultimately, a late bid allowed stocks to finish at the best levels of the day. With that, the US dollar gave back gains that peaked into the London fix.
The yen was soft with JGB yields staying below 0.50%, though volumes are mostly the BOJ. However with global inflation slowing, the market is having questions about whether the BOJ will ever be forced to raise rates. USD/JPY rose as high as 130.61 but that's inside of the recent range. It sagged back to 130.26 late.
In terms of potential breakouts, both AUD and CAD hit the best levels of the year, with AUD/USD up to the best since August.
The euro tried the upside but couldn't make a new high and finished lower by a quarter-cent on the day.
