The USD
As the North American session begins, the AUD is on its 4th day or higher values (trended higher 6 of 7 days), while the GBP is the weakest. The USD is mostly lower (again) with declines continuing vs the commodity currencies (AUD, NZD and CAD) along with the continued fall vs the EUR (it has trended higher in 8 of the last 9 trading days).
The ranges are pretty impressive this time of day with the EURUSD, GBPUSD near the 22 day average already. The activity in the USDJPY and USDCHF is a bit lighter. The commodity currencies are each trading near their session highs vs the USD (PS Gold and silver - up 7.1% - are continuing their runs to the upside).
In other markets:
- spot gold is trading up $18.30 or 1% at $1860.26. It is getting closer to the 2011 high of $1921.17. Silver is also extending abruptly to the upside. It is trading up $1.50 or 7.11% at $22.84. With stocks at highs, yields low, investors continue to latch onto the precious metal idea as a place to park funds.
- WTI crude oil futures are not higher. it trades down $0.69 or 1.64% for the September contract at $41.37
In the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are mixed after a mixed session yesterday that saw the S&P and Dow rise but the NASDAQ fall. Today the changes are the opposite. Tesla, Microsoft, Chipotle all report after the close:
- Dow, -51 points
- NASDAQ +50 points
- S&P, -3 points
In the European equity markets, the major indices are trading in the red after closing higher yesterday, but at session lows:
- German DAX, -0.36%
- France's CAC, -0.96%
- UK's FTSE 100, -0.7%
- Spain's Ibex, -1.2%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, -0.7%
in the US debt market yields are lower with a flatter yield curve.. The 2 – 10 year spread is down to 44.81 basis points from 45.93 basis points at the close yesterday. The 10 year yield is below 0.6% now.
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are also trending more to the downside. France's 10 year is getting further away from the 0.0% level at -0.18%.
