Headlines:
- Payrolls the only thing that matters now towards the end of the week
- The Fed hates ambiguity but it is leaving markets in such a state
- ECB's Villeroy: We will bring inflation back to 2% by end-2024 or end-2025
- US February Challenger layoffs 77.77k vs 102.94k prior
- 15 March will be a key date to watch for the Japanese yen
Markets:
- JPY leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 0.8 bps to 4.003%
- Gold up 0.2% to $1,817.75
- WTI crude up 0.2% to $76.79
- Bitcoin down 1.8% to $21,618
It was a session bereft of key headlines with there being no major economic releases in European morning trade.
Markets were left to fend for themselves, with the focus and anticipation staying on the non-farm payrolls data coming up tomorrow.
There were mixed tones overall as the dollar slumped while equities are softer, and even the action in the bond market was more mixed.
On the latter, European bond yields remain perky but looking over to Treasuries, short-end yields are seen lower while long-end yields are slightly higher on the day. 2-year yields in the US are down 1 bps but keeping above the 5% threshold while 10-year yields are up a touch to keep sticky around the 4% mark.
That was no help for the dollar though, as USD/JPY dropped from 136.60 to 136.00 during the session before keeping around 136.30 levels now, still down 0.7% on the day.
The greenback is also slightly softer elsewhere with EUR/USD moving up from 1.0545 to 1.0580 before getting stuck in at 1.0550 levels currently. GBP/USD is up 0.3% to 1.1880 after briefly clipping 1.1900 while USD/CHF is down 0.3% to 0.9390 at the moment.
The antipodeans fared better despite the softer mood in equities, with AUD/USD up 0.4% to 0.6610 and NZD/USD up 0.4% to 0.6130 on the day.
This is all just flow for show though, as the market movements with firmer convictions will only come after the US jobs report tomorrow.
