Headlines:
- Ukraine reaffirms rejection of Russian proposal to surrender in Mariupol
- Moscow says that there is still no basis for possible Putin-Zelensky meeting
- Dutch PM Rutte: EU too dependent on Russian oil and gas to cut it off tomorrow
- China Eastern Airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft after plane crash
- China state media confirms Boeing plane crash involving 133 people in Guangxi
- China to offer ¥1 trillion worth of tax rebate to small firms
- Germany February PPI +1.4% vs +1.7% m/m expected
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 18 March CHF 728.9 bn vs CHF 728.0 bn prior
Markets:
- CHF leads, AUD lags on the day
- European equities slightly higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 4.6 bps to 2.194%
- Gold up 0.2% to $1,924.50
- WTI up 3.9% to $108.79
- Bitcoin down 1.0% to $41,315
It was a rather calm session with little notable movement in the market for the most part.
The Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing but markets are looking to fade that away from the spotlight since last week already. Equities are steady though showing little poise for now while bond yields are keeping elevated.
2-year Treasury yields are up to 2% while 10-year yields are closing back in on 2.20% today. Again, just take note that the yield curve continues to flatten with 2s10s now under 20 bps.
In FX, there was very little meaningful action as EUR/USD hovered between 1.1030 to 1.1050 without any real conviction. USD/JPY has been rather sticky around 119.15-25 while the likes of the pound and aussie lagged. GBP/USD is down 0.3% as price fails at pushing past 1.3200 since the end of last week while AUD/USD is down 0.4% to 0.7380 after failing to hold above 0.7400.
Elsewhere, oil is looking lively again with Brent up over 4% to above $112 and WTI up also nearly 4% close to $109. But then again with the volatility these days, what is a 4% daily move in oil eh?
