Dollar continues fall today.
As North American traders enter for the day, the NZD is the strongest. The pair got a boost from the ANZ Business Outlook Survey. 'Activity' also improved and although the details from the results were not across the board healthy there were enough positives to get the NZD moving higher. An improving stock market has also helped in the London session (risk on). The USD is weaker - extending declines that got going yesterday.
Like the pattern recently, there is some activity in some of the major currency pairs, and then little volatility in others. The USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD have low to high ranges in the 30-38 pips range. The NZDUSD had trended higher (up 68 pips) and with a a decent 70 pip range. The EURUSD, GBPUSD and USDJPY also have good ranges and trending (lower dollar bias).
- spot gold is up $1.50 or 0.12% at $1247.15
- WTI crude oil futures are down $1.24 or -2.49% at $48.64
- Bitcoin on Coinbase is trading down -$12.42 at $3480. The digital currency remains above its 200 hour moving average of $3324.95. Staying above keeps the bulls in charge.
IN the pre-market futures markets, the prices are pointing toward a solid opening in US equities
- Dow, +260 points
- S&P, 25 points
- Nasdaq, +66 points
In the European markets, the snapshot of the major indices are mixed:
- German DAX, +0.4%
- France's CAC, unchanged
- UK's FTSE, -0.25%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.2%
- Spain's Ibex, -0.57%
US yields continue to fall into the start of the 2-day FOMC meetings. The Fed is expected to hike by 0.25 bps tomorrow, but the expectations are that future hikes will slow in 2019.
The 10 year benchmark yields are also lower today:
