US PMIs Might Have the Biggest Market Moving Potential

Markets Yesterday’s US President’s Day holiday narrowed down trading volumes to an absolute minimum, with European markets going nowhere in absence of any relevant eco data. This morning’s RBA minutes offer a glimpse of what to expect from tomorrow’s FOMC Minutes as well. The key question being how large the hawkish Fed minority was in […]

All Eyes Will on Flash PMIs from Europe and US

Market movers today Today, all eyes will be on flash PMIs from Europe and the US. In the euro area, we look for potentially more evidence of rebounding activity amid easing inflation pressures. In the US, NY Fed’s Empire and Philly Fed Manufacturing indices have sent mixed signals thus far for February but we still […]

Plenty to Look Forward To

It hasn’t been the most thrilling start to the week but the good news is that it should improve from here as the US rejoins and the economic calendar fills out. We were basically treading water on Monday which is often the case on a US bank holiday. The fact that the calendar was as […]

Sentiment Shaky Ahead of Fed Minutes and "Higher For Longer" Rates

Asian shares traded mostly lower on Tuesday along with US and European futures as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the reopening of the US markets after the President’s Day holiday. Mounting diplomatic tensions between the United States and China, coupled with the prospects of the Fed maintaining its hawkish path have left market […]

Bitcoin Set to Break Through

Market Picture Bitcoin continues its attempts to break through resistance at $25K. Volatility was muted on Monday as the primary driver of it – US equity markets – was closed yesterday. Cryptocurrency market capitalisation rose 1.2%. According to CoinShares, investments in cryptocurrencies fell by $32 million last week, the second consecutive week of declines and […]

Macros Continue to Weigh on Crude Oil

For the third month, oil has barely moved out of its wide range of $73-82 for WTI barrel and $78-88 for Brent. This is not a balance and equilibrium of supply and demand forces but a tug of war. This does not often happen in large liquid markets, but the range movement has more to […]

NZD/USD Eyes Central Bank Meeting

The New Zealand dollar is slightly lower on Tuesday. NZD/USD declined over 0.50% earlier but has pared most of these losses and is trading at 0.6240, down 0.20%. RBNZ expected to hike by 50 bp The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will meet on Wednesday, its first policy meeting this year. The Bank last met […]

Australian Dollar Dips after RBA Minutes

The Australian dollar is in negative territory on Tuesday. In European trade, AUD/USD is trading at 0.6876, down 0.50%. RBA minutes indicate concern over inflation The Reserve Bank of Australia keeps getting in the way of the Australian dollar. RBA Governor Lowe appeared before a parliamentary committee last Wednesday and confirmed that further rate hikes […]

Canada: Inflation Continues to Cool in January 

Consumer price inflation continued to decelerate in January, up 5.9% versus a year ago (y/y), from 6.3% in December. Prices for cellular services and passenger vehicles contributed to the deceleration, as holiday discounting spilled in to January in the case of the former, and improved supply chains contributed to the decline for the latter. Energy […]

Sunset Market Commentary

Markets Today’s PMI’s should further shape markets’ and central bankers’ assessment on how much further policy tightening is needed to bring inflation back to target in a sustainable way. EMU February PMI’s at least suggest that tightening already put in place by the ECB (and other central banks) probably didn’t restore the demand supply balance […]