US stocks down in early trading

The USD is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as North American traders enter for the day. Australia New Zealand dollars are lower as well as reports that Hong Kong plans to order a lockdown to stem a worsening virus outbreak weighed on the currencies. US stocks are down in early trading and also leading traders to "risk off" flows. Yields are lower/the yield curve it is flatter. The Gold is lower in reaction to the higher dollar.

US stocks down in early trading

The ranges and changes are showing mixed activity. The commodity currencies (CAD, AUD, and NZD) are trending (to the downside) and trade near extremes. The USDJPY and USDCHF have narrow trading ranges at 25 and 23 pips. The GBPUSD is moving lower and near lows for the day. The EURUSD was higher but is back to just negative in the morning snapshot (down -1 pip). The EURGBP has moved higher today and trades above its 200 hour MA (currently at 0.8893) for the first times since January 11.

The ranges and changes for the major currency pairs

In other markets a snapshot shows:

  • Spot gold is is trading down $28 or -1.49% and $1842
  • Spot silver is trading down $0.78 or -3.02% at $25.15
  • WTI crude oil futures are down $1.50 or 2.82% at $51.63
  • The price of bitcoin is trading up around $350 or 1.16% the $31563

In the US stocks, the major indices are lower. The NASDAQ and S&P indices closed at a record high yesterday, but the Dow industrial average missed making it another new all time high. Today, the indices are trending more to the downside:

  • S&P index is down by -28.57 points. The index rose by 1.22 point yesterday
  • Dow industrial average is down -241 points after declining -12.37 points yesterday
  • NASDAQ index is currently down 87.5 points after rising 73.66 points yesterday

In the European equity markets they to or trading lower across the board:

  • German DAX -0.7%
  • France's CAC -1%
  • UK's FTSE 100, -0.7%
  • Spain's Ibex, -1.4%
  • Italy's FTSE MIB -1.8%

In the US debt market, yields are lower with a flatter yield curve. The 2 – 10 year spread is trading at 96.46 basis points down from 98.69 basis points at the close yesterday.

US yields are lower

The benchmark 10 year yields are trading mostly lower with the exception of Italian yields. Investors are selling the Italian bonds and their yields were up 3.3 basis points.

European yields are mostly lower