On Friday, the US dollar strengthened slightly against a basket of major currencies. The US dollar index (#DX) closed in the green zone (+0.05%). The US has published a number of important economic releases. Thus, the underlying retail sales index rose by 0.3% in January; retail sales volume also rose by 0.3%, which coincided with the forecasts. There were also published indices of expectations and sentiment of consumers from the University of Michigan, which amounted to 92.6 and 100.9, respectively, and were better than predicted values.
Financial market sentiment improved slightly after the number of new cases of coronavirus in China declined, and a national health official said that efforts to stop its spread are beginning to yield first results. China registered 20,009 new infections on Sunday, down from 2,641 the day before, and 142 new deaths, down from 143 the day before. Outside China, about 500 cases and four deaths have been reported so far.
Today, weak economic data from Japan were published in the Asian trade session. Thus, GDP (QoQ) fell by 1.6% in Q4, while experts expected a decline by 0.9%. GDP (YoY) fell by 6.3% instead of 3.7%.
The prices of oil are rising. At the moment futures for WTI oil are testing the mark of $52.35 per barrel.
Market Indicators
- On Friday, the US stock market showed mixed dynamics: #SPY (+0.16%), #DIA (-0.09%), #QQQ (+0.29%).
- The yields on 10-year US government bonds are consolidated. Currently, the indicator is at the level of 1.58-1.59%.
- No important news is expected to be published today. The US financial markets are closed due to the President’s Day. Canadian financial markets are closed due to Family Day.
