How is US Yield’s Breach of 3% Related to Recent Crude Oil Rally?
The two most astonishing features in the financial market over the past week were soaring US Treasury yields and crude oil prices. After making a fresh 4-year high last Friday, the 10-year yield extended gains and eventually broke above 3% this week. Meanwhile, both crude oil benchmarks rallied to...
Dollar Turned into Consolidation, German Ifo Miss Gives Euro No Support
Dollar engages in consolidative trading today as markets digest recent sharp gains. Also, as pointed out before, 10 year yield should a sign of hesitation ahead of 3%, and it might take a bit more time to overcome this level. While housing data is a focus in the US...
Dollar Pares Gain as Yield Hesitated ahead of 3%, German Ifo Watched
Dollar pares back some gains in Asian session today after yesterday's yield driven rally. 10 year yield hit as high as 2.990 during regular trading hour before closing at 2.973, up 0.022. However, that was below open at 2.975 and thus, showed a bit of hesitation ahead of 3%...
ECB Preview: Caution over Recent Slowdown Won’t Affect QE Schedule
Despite expectations that the ECB would only announce adjustments on QE and interest rate in June the earliest, the upcoming meeting is not a non-event. Since the March meeting, Eurozone’s economic data have surprised to the downside. It would be of great interest to see the policymakers’ interpretation of...
Dollar Marches on as 10 Year Yield Presses 3%
Dollar's broad based rally extends today with the support of surging US treasury yield. 10 year yield hit as high as 2.99% in premarket, and is flirting with 3% level. Meanwhile, Japanese yen are trading as the weakest one. Euro suffered some selling earlier today after mixed PMI data....
Quiet Start to a Week of Guaranteed Volatility, on Yields, Central Banks, Data and Politics
The financial markets are pretty quiet as another week starts. Despite positive news regarding Korean peninsula, major Asian indices are trading slightly lower. At the time of writing, Nikkei is down -0.28%, HK HSI is down -0.66%. In the currency markets, major pairs and crosses are bounded in Friday's...
Trader were Largely Bullish on Energy and Precious Metals
Speculators were bullish over the energy complex in the week ended April 17. Net LENGTH for crude oil futures jumped +21 051 contracts from a week ago to 728 131. NET LENGTH of heating oil rose +8 258 contracts to 22 989 while net LENGTH for gasoline gained +4 245 contracts to...
Dollar Dominated the Markets as Treasury Yields Could be Reversing Multi-Decade Down Trend
Dollar ended broadly higher last week as boosted by surge in treasury yields. 10 year yield finally completed its consolidation that started back in February, and rose through 2.943 high to close strongly at 2.951. That came with the background that recent comments from Fed officials affirmed its gradual...
Canadian Dollar Selloff Extends after CPI and Retail Sales Misses, Dollar Rally Accelerating
Dollar's broad based rally continues today and is showing sign of acceleration. In particular, while Euro has been rather resilient, EUR/USD is starting to be dragged down by others as it dips through 1.23. While there is still some way to go, focus is now back o 1.2214 support...
Treasury Yield Rally Takes Dollar Higher, EUR/CHF Breaches 1.2
Dollar surged overnight as boosted by the strong rally in US treasury yield. 10 year yield gained 0.047 to close at 2.914, after hitting as high as 2.934. It's now close to a key resistance, February's high at 2.943. The greenback remains firm in Asian session. For the week,...
Sterling and Canadian Dollar Recover Losses, Markets Lack Dominant Theme
The major theme in the forex markets isn't too clear today. Sterling dips initially after retail sales missed expectation, but quickly recovered. Canadian dollar also pare back some of the post BoC decline, as lifted by strength in oil price. Australian Dollar gained earlier today but there is no...
Australian Dollar Shrugs off Job Data Miss, Sterling Looks into Retail Sales
Commodity currencies are trading broadly higher today as led by Australian Dollar. Strong rebound in the Chinese stock markets is seen as factor helping the Aussie, as SSE is gaining more than 1% at the time of writing. Canadian Dollar is also recovering some of yesterday's post-BoC loss. Sterling,...
BOC Revised Lower Growth Forecast for 2018, Sent a Mixed Message
BoC has sent a mixed message in yesterday's statement. Although the next rate adjustment remains a hike, the timing remains data-dependent and hinged on a number of uncertainties, including NAFTA negotiations and geopolitical tensions, something critical to Canada due to its position as oil exporter. Policymakers upgraded the assessment...
Oil Prices Extend Rally as US Inventories Unexpectedly Declined
The report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that total crude oil and petroleum products stocks slumped -10.58 mmb to 1180.97 mmb in the week ended April 13. Crude oil inventory dropped -1.07 mmb to 427.57 mmb, amidst decreases in 3 out of 5 PADDs. Stockpile in...
Sterling Lost Ground and CPI Trend Raises Doubt on BoE May Hike
Sterling is the biggest loser today after CPI missed market expectations. Most importantly, it's the steep trend of slow down in inflation, from 3% in January to 2.5% in March that raised doubts on a BoE May hike. The Pound stabilized a bit after initial selloff. For the moment,...
UK CPI and BoC to Guide the Markets as Sentiments Improved
Markets sentiments turned positive as there were now continuous flow of bad news. All three of DOW, S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed higher overnight, with NASDAQ scoring the best performance. Technically, all three have taken out 55 day EMA decisively which suggests more near term upside. Nikkei follow and...
China Unexpectedly Loosens Monetary Policy by Cutting RRR
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced to cut 100 bps in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), effective from April 25, for large commercial banks, joint-stock banks, city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and foreign banks. While it would be applied to large and small-to -medium banks with current RRR...
US Oil Inventories Fell Across the Board
The industry- sponsored API estimated that crude oil inventory decreased -1 mmb in the week ended April 13. Cushing stock also dropped -1 mmb for the week. For refined oil products, gasoline stockpile declined -2.5 mmb while distillate slid -0.85 mmb for the week. The agency also estimated that...
Sterling and Euro Reverse Gains after Disappointing Data, Dollar Rebounds Broadly
Sterling and Euro strengthened earlier today but both reversed earlier gains after disappointing economic data. On the other hand, Dollar is trying to make a come back as buying accelerates in early US session. It's more a coincidence than a response. But the greenback picks up momentum after US...
China’s March Data Distorted by Holiday and Weather Effects
China’s macroeconomic data showed a mixed picture in March.
Growth in industrial production (IP) eased to +6% y/y, compared with consensus of +6.9% and January- February’s +7.2%. The inflation report released last week also showed that headline CPI slowed markedly to +2.1% y/y in March, from February’s +2.9%. Urban fixed...