No change in rates. Draghi up next
The ECB kept rates unchanged and confirmed they would keep the asset purchases per month at 30 billion until the end of September but could extend that if needed. The EUR is the weakest in the snapshot but the pesky-bearish dollar is right on it's heels for the weakest of the majors. The NZD is the strongest. The kiwi fell sharply right before the close yesterday on the back of the weaker than expected CPI, and corrected in trading today.
The ranges are showing pretty good activity. The changes from yesterday are showing the major pairs are off extreme levels.
At 8:30 AM ET/1330 GMT the market will have to deal with Draghi speaking for an hour or so, and data in the form of Canada retail sales, US employment claims and goods trade balance. Later at 10 AM ET/1500 GMT, US new home sales and conference board leading index will be released. The market will have a lot to trade on, but because Draghi speaks for an hour, there could be choppy market conditions as the market digests his every word.
In other markets, the snapshot shows:
- Spot gold of $1.60 or +0.12% at $1360.05
- WTI crude oil futures continue to move higher. The contract is trading up $.68 or 1.04% at $66.29
- US yields are a little bit lower. Two-year 2.076%, unchanged. Five-year 2.422%, -1.2 basis points. 10 year 2.632%, -1.5 basis points. Thirty-year 2.911%, -1.8 basis points
- US stock futures are trading higher. The Dow closed at a record yesterday, while the S&P was near unchanged levels, and the NASDAQ fell. Today the Nasdaq futures are recovering in early trading at up 44 points. S&P futures are up 8.25 points. Dow futures are up 92 points
- In Europe the German DAX is up 0.14%, the UK FTSE is up 0.23%, the French CAC is up 0.48%, Spain's Ibex is up 0.40%, Italy's FTSE MIB is up 0.62%
