Headlines:

Markets:

  • EUR leads, NZD lags on the day
  • European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.9%
  • US 10-year yields up 8 bps to 3.558%
  • Gold down 0.6% to $1,966.63
  • WTI crude up 0.8% to $68.20
  • Bitcoin up 0.2% to $28,130

As the banking turmoil settles down, the lack of any further negative headlines is breathing life back into risk assets today. Markets are finally able to exhale with a bit more comfort as we see equities jump higher alongside bond yields in European trading.

2-year German bond yields are up 24 bps to 2.56% and even closed the opening gap lower from yesterday. Meanwhile, 2-year Treasury yields are up some 21 bps at the moment to 4.13% as safety bets are pared.

In the equities space, European indices are now seen up around 1.5% to 1.8% mostly with Spain and Italy the outperformers, up by over 2% on the day. Meanwhile, US futures were flattish early on from Asia but have now turned higher by nearly 1% ahead of the cash open later.

With the jump in bond yields and better risk mood, the Japanese yen and gold are two notable laggards today. USD/JPY is up by 100 pips to 132.30 levels even as the dollar trades more mixed on the session. Meanwhile, gold is continuing to back further away from a test of $2,000 yesterday and is now holding around $1,966 - down 0.6%.

The euro and franc are seeing some decent gains as European investors are also relaxing after the Credit Suisse concern. Then, we have the antipodeans which are struggling after the RBA minutes earlier revealed that policymakers had already been looking to head to the sidelines even before the whole banking turmoil.

AUD/USD is down 0.5% to 0.6680 but has inadvertently dragged the kiwi lower as well with NZD/USD down 0.8% to just below 0.6200.