Headlines:
- Mixed flows so far in European morning trade
- Aussie finds it tough to build on recent bounce
- US data in focus later today
- France August business confidence 99 vs 100 prior
- UK August retailing reported sales -44 vs -25 prior
- China announces suspension of all aquatic products from Japan
- Australian bank CEO says Australia unlikely to enter recession, housing market holding up
Markets:
- USD leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.6%
- US 10-year yields up 1.6 bps to 4.213%
- Gold up 0.2% to $1,917.66
- WTI crude up 0.2% to $79.07
- Bitcoin down 0.3% to $26,509
It was a quiet session for the most part but there were some decent albeit mixed flows in markets today.
Equities are buoyed since Asia trading, after Nvidia's earnings beat helped to boost sentiment. US futures are holding higher, led by tech shares, with Nasdaq futures up by 1.1% and S&P 500 futures up by 0.6%. However, Dow futures are slightly lower now and down by 0.1% so perhaps not everything is bright and rosy in the equities space.
The less enthusiastic mood is also shared by the antipodean currencies today with both the aussie and kiwi keeping lower. Both were initially little changed against the dollar but AUD/USD is now down 0.5% to 0.6445 and NZD/USD down 0.7% to 0.5940 at the lows for the day.
The dollar is overall keeping steadier, with USD/JPY holding higher by 0.5% to 145.50 levels again as Treasury yields nudge a little higher. 10-year yields were down to around 4.18% earlier but have now recovered to around 4.21% on the day.
Besides that, the euro is little changed against the dollar while cable is down 0.4% to 1.2670 as the pound struggles to maintain yesterday's rebound.
The thing to watch now is to see if tech shares can hold their head above water later today, with US weekly jobless claims coming up as well. If not, we might be set for a bit of an uglier end to the week if stock investors truly do go with the buy the rumour, sell the fact play after Nvidia.
