US jobs due at 8:30 AM ET. Russian producers say ready for oil production cuts if US, Saudis join
The USD is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the North American session begins. The string of 113 consecutive job gain months will likely be broken (estimates -100 K), when the US announces the job report details for the month March (unemployment rate 3.8% estimate versus 3.5% last month). However, the results will not include the last two weeks of job losses which amounted to about 10M workers. The numbers will be historic in April.
The oil story is front and center as well as Russia says they will be up to cut production if the US and Saudis join in (crude is rising and near highs). Stocks have erased early session lows and trade near unchanged levels (but trading is volatile).
The ranges and changes show the GBPUSD leading the way with a 148 pip range dand down -107 pips. The EURUSD is lower and trading at session lows. The USDCHF is trading at the session highs. Ranges are much lower than the 22 day averages (about a month of trading).
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading up $1.70 or 0.11% at$1615.70
- WTI crude oil is up $1.74 or 7.03% at $27.32
In the pre-market for US stocks, the futures are volatile and now down as I type:
- S&P index -6.6 points
- Dow industrial average -98 points
- NASDAQ index down -21 points
in the European equity markets major indices are mostly lower
- German DAX, +0.1%
- France's CAC, -0.7%
- UK's FTSE 100, -0.7%
- Spain's Ibex, +1%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, -0.8%
in the US debt market yields are down modestly with little change in the yield curve:
In the European debt market the benchmark 10 year yields are mixed with Germany, France, and UK yields lower while Spain, Italy, Portugal yields higher.
