The USD is the strongest and the GBP is the weakest as the NA session begins

The "day after" can lead to a hangover and the US markets has a bit of a headache post party from the FOMC decision yesterday. Chair Powell's comments, which took 75 basis points off the table for the Fed (at least for now), sent stocks higher, yields lower and the dollar lower. Today, the USD is back to being the strongest of the majors (helped by a tumbling GBP - more on that), the US stocks are higher and yields are higher.

Meanwhile in the UK, the Bank of England Bank of England The Bank of England (BoE) functions as the United Kingdom’s central bank and is one of the key drivers of monetary policy in Europe. As one of the world’s oldest central banks and established in 1694, the BoE is owned by the British government. Its central mandate involves maintaining and targeting interest rates while using other tools to help either stimulate or contract the economy. Moreover, the BoE is responsible for producing the UK’s bank notes as well as supervising key bank payment sy The Bank of England (BoE) functions as the United Kingdom’s central bank and is one of the key drivers of monetary policy in Europe. As one of the world’s oldest central banks and established in 1694, the BoE is owned by the British government. Its central mandate involves maintaining and targeting interest rates while using other tools to help either stimulate or contract the economy. Moreover, the BoE is responsible for producing the UK’s bank notes as well as supervising key bank payment sy Read this Term raised rates by 25 basis points as expected, but painted a picture of high inflation Inflation Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is m Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is m Read this Term and low growth which has the GBP tumbling to the downside. The snapshot this morning has the GBPUSD down -1.74% on the day, erasing the gains from yesterday and moving to a new 2022 low (and low going back to July 2020). The pair is trading above and below 1.2400 with the low reaching 1.2378. The old low was at 1.24103 from last week. So far the correction off the low has been able to stay just below that level keeping the bears fully in control.

Crude oil is higher. Gold is higher, bitcoin is near unchanged.

Weekly jobless claims are expected at 180K unchanged from last week. US non farm productivity for the 1st quarter is expected at -5.1% (vs. 6.6%) with unit labor costs surging by 10.1%.

A look at the other markets in the morning snapshot shows:

• Spot gold is up $18.50 or 0.98% at $1900
• Spot silver is up $0.04 or 0.19% $23.01
• Crude oil is trading up $1.52 or 1.3% at $109.30. OPEC is said to raise production but in reality is lower as a result of the Russian oil
• Bitcoin is trading down $160 at $39,527.82

In the premarket for US stocks, the futures are implying low levels. Recall from yesterday, the S&P and the NASDAQ closed right near their falling 100 hour moving averages (and 4296.19 and 12945.91 respectively). The lower opening today will likely take the price toward those levels.

• Dow industrial average is down -137 points. Yesterday the index rose 932.27 points
• S&P is down -22.37 points after yesterdays 124.69 point rise
• NASDAQ index is down -85 points after yesterdays 401.1 point rise

In the European equity markets, the major indices are holding onto strong gains after the late US surge after the FOMC:

• German DAX, +1.6%
• France's CAC, +1.9%
• UK's FTSE 100 +1.5%
• Spain's Ibex +1.1%
• Italy's FTSE MIB +1.3%

In the US debt market, yields are higher:

• 2 year 2.610%, +3.4 basis points
• 5 year 2.922%, +2.9 basis points
• 10 year 2.932%, +1 point basis points
• 30 year 3.013%, unchanged

In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are sharply lower helped by the dovish BOE.