Markets:

  • Gold down $5 to $1786
  • S&P 500 futures up 12 points to 4435
  • US 10-year yields up 1.3 bps to 1.79%
  • WTI crude oil up $1.07 to $87.90
  • Hong Kong Hang Seng up 1.1%
  • NZD leads, JPY lags

The week kicked off the same way Friday ended: With a positive tone. This time, moreso in FX than equities as the Australian and New Zealand dollars led the way.

A heavy holiday slate due to the lunar new year and a holiday in New Zealand took much of the life out of the market but there were still decent moves with AUD/USD rebounding from a 20-month low and back above 0.7000.

The bigger moves were in yen crosses as they universally marched higher despite Japanese 2-year yields rising to -0.05%, which is the highest since 2016.

Energy continues to be red hot as WTI opened a dollar higher and Brent hit $91. The larger move was in natural gas, which ran nearly 10% before paring the gain back to 7% on cold weather forecasts.

The weekend news had little effect on the market but I'll be watching closely to see how Bostic's comments are digested.

FX news wrap Jan 31