The USD is mostly/marginally higher
As the North American session gets going, US turning up the heat on China (Trump tweet, Congressional action requiring more disclosure and transparency from Chinese companies on US stock exchanges, chip sales to Huawei) has risk on flows abating. The AUD and NZD that have moved from stroller currencies to the weaker currencies today. The EUR is the strongest. The US dollar is stronger with gains against all the major currencies with the exception of the EUR. Today is initial jobless claims day with expectations for a another gain of 2.4 million vs. 2.981 million last week. Continuing claims are expected to rise to 24.250 million from 22.833 million. Markit preliminary PMI data for May is expected to rise to 40.0 from 36.1. The services PMI is expected to rise to 32.5 from 26.7 last month. Existing home sales will also be released with a sharp decline as coronavirus shut down quickly shut down the housing market.
The ranges and changes are modest compared to the 22 day averages (lower chart, red line is the 22 day average range). The largest range of the major currencies is the GBPUSD at 67 pips. The lowest is a mere 24 pips for the USDCHF. The EURUSD was lower earlier but as more recently moved to positive territory and trades near the highs for the day up 16 pips. THe and crosses today are mixed. The EURGBP corrected lower after breaking above a topside ceiling area yesterday at 0.8956-59. The support held against that area before moving back to the upside over the last few hours.
In other markets, as North American traders enter for the day are showing:
- Spot gold $-10.83 or -0.62% $1737.28
- WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.51 or 1.52% $34 even. The high price reached $34.48. The low price extended to $33.35
In the premarket for US equities, the major indices are a bit softer this morning. The snapshot of the major indices currently shows:
- Dow -107 points
- NASDAQ index -32 points
- S&P index -12.6 points
In the European equity markets, the major indices are giving back the gains from yesterday:
- German DAX, -1.27%
- France's CAC, -0.8%
- Spain's Ibex, -0.6%
- Spain's Ibex unchanged
- Italy's FTSE MIB -0.4%
In the US debt market, the yields are unchanged to lower. The 2 year is trading unchanged on the day the 30 year is down -1.3 basis points.
In the European debt market the benchmark 10 year yields are mixed with UK yields down -2.8 basis points. The Italian yields are up 1.8 basis points.
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