Daily summary: Tech stocks lead Wall Street rally

• European finished today's session higher, with DAX added 0.46% to above the 15,100 level as ongoing optimism surrounding China's reopening and drop in European gas prices overshadowed hawkish remarks from ECB policymakers. 

• ECB Governing Council member Knot said the bloc's central bank is set to raise interest rates by 50 bp in both February and March and will continue to raise rates in the months after. 

• ECB president Lagarde said interest rates must continue to rise significantly and steadily.

• Major US indices rose sharply amid expectations of less aggressive monetary tightening from the Fed. Wall Street Journal Fed insider claims that the US central bank will announce a 25 basis point rate hike next week, which boosted upbeat sentiment especially in the tech sector. Dow Jones trading 1.15% higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 1.65% and 2.35% higher. 

• This week investors will focus on big tech earnings and several interesting macroeconomic reports including US GDP and inflation figures.

• WTI crude futures jumped above $82 per barrel, which is the highest level since November 16th, while Brent hoovers around $88.00 per barrel in a subdued session as many Asian markets were offline for the Lunar New Year holidays.  

• NATGAS rose over 6.0% as temperatures are expected to decline in most parts of the United States.

• Precious metals took a beating early in the session amid rising yields and quite strong dollar. However buyers manage to erase some losses later on. Gold pulled back to $1911, however the price returned to the $1928 mark in the evening. Silver plunged over 4.5%, however sellers failed to break below major support at $23.00.

• The dollar index hover slightly above 102 around levels not seen since May 2022, as prospects of a less aggressive Fed spooked investors away from the greenback. USD weakened significantly against antipodean currencies, however strengthened against yen and Swiss franc.

• Mixed moods prevail on the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin briefly jumped above the $23000 level, only to pull back to $22800. Ethereum retread to $1600 mark, however buyers managed to halt declines and the second most popular cryptocurrency jumped to $1620.

AUDUSD pair approaches the key resistance level  at 0.7055, which has managed to fend off bulls several times in the past. Source: xStation5