The USD is mixed as North American traders enter for the day
As North American traders enter for the day, the NZD is the strongest of the major currencies. The CHF is the weakest (the USDCHF found a bottom and reversed higher - chatter about SNB intervention perhaps). The USD is trading mixed with declines vs the JPY and NZD, and gains vs the CHF, EUR and GBP. The dollar is steady vs the CAD and AUD.
The USDCHF trading range of 79 pips is leading the way, and the pair is trading near the high for the day. The GBPUSD has reversed lower after moving higher earlier. The EURUSD has also moved into the red after being higher earlier. EURJPY and GBPJPY are near session lows. The EURJPY did trade down to support at its 100 and 200 hour MAs (the fall has stalled as a result).
In other markets:
- Gold continues to march higher helped by geopolitical issues. It is up $7.04 or 0.5% at $1427
- WTI crude oil is unchanged at $57.90
- Bitcoin is moving higher today on Coinbase. The price is up $493 at $11357. The high for the day reache $11470. The 50% retracement of the move down from the 2017 December high comes in at $11524. That level was sniffed today (got with $54).
In the pre-market for US stocks, futures are implying a mixed start:
- Dow is up 4.46 points
- S&P is down -2 points
- Nasdaq is down -7.4 points
A snapshot of major European stock markets are showing:
- German Dax, -0.1%
- France's CAC -0.14%
- UK's FTSE, unchanged
- Spain's Ibex -0.75%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, -0.68%
In the US debt market, yields are steady near unchanged levels on the day:
European benchmark 10 year yields are mostly lower but by varying degrees. Italy is the exception as investors push 10 year BTPs up 3.8 bps.
