Headlines:
- Cable extends fall to lowest in five months
- ECB's Patsalides says central bank decisions are reliant on data
- SNB raises minimum reserve requirement for banks
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 19 April CHF 481.3 bn vs CHF 477.9 bn prior
- Germany's industry lobby warns of production slump to continue this year
- North Korea fires ballistic missile, appears to have landed outside Japan's EEZ
Markets:
- NZD leads, GBP lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.6%
- US 10-year yields up 3.7 bps to 4.660%
- Gold down 2.1% to $2,341.79
- WTI crude down 0.7% to $81.47
- Bitcoin up 1.5% to $65,915
As geopolitical fears ebb, risk is looking to be back on the up again to start the new week. The likes of gold and oil are being pushed lower, while equities are hoping for a decent bounce after last week's slide. S&P 500 futures were slightly optimistic early on, up around 0.2% as European traders entered. It is now up roughly 0.6% ahead of US trading.
Meanwhile, gold fell by quite a bit during the session in a drop from $2,370 to $2,341 currently. The near-term chart also isn't too promising for gold at the moment.
In FX, the dollar is steady but trades more mixed on the day. It is up against the European currencies but now against the antipodeans amid the better risk mood.
EUR/USD is down 0.2% to 1.0633 while GBP/USD is down 0.4% to 1.2313 on the day. USD/JPY is keeping underpinned around 154.75, with higher bond yields also helping. Still, the 155.00 mark is a stretch too far for now. Then, we have AUD/USD up 0.3% to 0.6435 and NZD/USD up 0.4% to 0.5905 on the day.
There wasn't much other notable headlines to start the week but things are to pick up surely, if the economic calendar this week is anything to go by.
