The RBA went a step further with a 0.25 basis point rise to 0.35% vs 0.15% launch. That helped to send the AUD to the top of the table of the strongest to weakest currencies and helped to take the shine off the greenback for the day. The USD is the weakest of the major currencies as North American traders enter for the day although the declines are relatively modest vs the JPY, CAD and NZD (less than 0.17% declines). Most of the declines are vs. the AUD with a near 1% decline of the USD on the day.
Of course the Fed will take the central bank stage tomorrow when they are expected to hike by 0.5 basis points. The Bank of England will follow that up with an expected 25 basis point hike on Thursday as central banks hike to try and slow inflation (although some is out of their control still) and get rates back to neutral from not-neutral.
US stocks are little changed ahead of JOLTS job data. US factory orders will also be released today at 10 AM ET. After the close, AMD, AirBnB, Starbucks will release earnings.
Yields are mixed with a flattening of the yield curve. Crude oil is little changed.
A look around the markets currently shows:
- Spot gold is down $0.37 -0.03% at $1862.72
- Spot silver is down three cents or -0.10% at $22.60
- WTI crude oil futures are trading at $104.30 down $0.85 on the day
- Bitcoin is little changed at $38,545
Looking at the premarket for US stocks the futures are implying little change after yesterday's volatile up and down market which closed higher on the day:
- Dow industrial average up 7.5 points after yesterday's 84.29 point rise
- S&P index unchanged after yesterday's 23.47 point rise
- NASDAQ index +10 points after yesterday's 201.3 point rise
In the European equity markets:
- German DAX +0.25%
- France's CAC +0.33%
- UK's FTSE 100 -0.55%
- Spain's Ibex +1.4%
- Italy's FTSE MIB +1.0%
In the US debt market, yields are mixed with short rent higher in the longer end lower ahead of the Fed decision tomorrow. The 10 year yield moved over 3% for the first time in this cycle yesterday:
- two year 2.75%, +1.7 basis points
- five year 3.001%, -0.7 basis points
- 10 year 2.963%, -2.2 basis points
- 30 year 3.01%, -2.7 basis points
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are mostly lower with the exception of the UK 10 year ahead of their interest rate decision on Thursday.
