Forex markets pause.

The USD is the strongest and the CAD is the weakest as North American traders enter for the day. The major currencies are relatively scrunched together from high to low as traders pause ahead of the Jackson Hole virtual summit on Friday. Nevertheless today, the Durable goods will be released at the bottom of the hour. The expectations is for a decline of -0.3% vs 0.9% last month. The core is expected to show a 0.5% gains which matched the gain in June. Crude oil inventories will be released at 10:30 AM ET. The private data showed a draw of -1.9M for crude and a -1.0M draw in gasoline stocks. The US treasury will auction $61B of 5 year notes after a stellar auction of 2 year notes yesterday.

Forex markets pause.

The ranges and changes are highlighting the confined forex markets. The USDCAD has the largest trading range of 45 pips (trades near highs for the day). The rest of the majors have low to high trading ranges of 37 pips or lower. The EURUSD range is only 27 pips so far. There is some apprehension.

The ranges and changes for the major currency pairs

Looking at other markets:

  • Spot gold is trading down $9.18 or -0.51% at $1792.90.
  • Spot silver is down eight cents or -0.4% at $23.72
  • WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.34 at $67.95
  • Bitcoin is trading near unchanged at $47,655

In the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are little changed:

  • Dow futures are implying a eight point gain. Yesterday the index rose 30.53 points
  • NASDAQ index is up two points after yesterday's 77 point rise. The close was a record yesterday
  • S&P futures are implying an unchanged open. Yesterday the index closed at a record level with a gain of 6.68 points

in the European equity markets, the major indices are mixed:

  • German DAX, -0.15%
  • France's CAC, +0.2%
  • UK's FTSE 100, +0.2%
  • Spain's Ibex, +0.3%
  • Italy's FTSE MIB, unchanged

In the US debt market, the yield curve steep and with the longer and yields up about 1.5 to 2.0 basis points:

US yields are higher

In European debt market, the benchmark yields are all lower with the yields down -3 basis points or more:

European yields are lower