Daily summary: Wall Street retreats sharply ahead of key jobs report

• European indices finished today's session mostly in red, with the FTSE100 index edging 0.2% lower and Germany's DAX 40 finishing near the flat line as investors continued to worry about the outlook of a faster interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.

• Credit Suisse Group was also under pressure after delaying the publication of its annual report. 

• Wall Street indices erased early gains and moved sharply lower as larger-than-expected increase in jobless claims only temporarily eased concerns that a tight labor market will be the trigger for sharper interest rate hikes especially taking into consideration solid ADP and JOLTs Job data. Market's focus will now turn to the highly anticipated NFP report due Friday.

• The White House released it's fiscal 2024 budget proposal that projects $6.883 trillion in total spending, $5.036 trillion in revenues.

• President Biden is scheduled to speak about budget at 7:30 pm GMT today

• BoC Rogers: Need to see more evidence to fully assess if rates high enough. If evidence accumulates suggesting inflation may not decline in line with our forecast, we're prepared to do more.

• BoC Rogers: The near-term US and European outlooks for growth and inflation are higher than we expected, this could point to some further inflationary pressure in Canada.

• Crude prices also moved lower in the evening. OIL.WTI is again testing key support  at $76.10, while Brent pulled back to recent lows at $82.20

• US dollar weakened slightly on Thursday. The main currency pair rose to 1.0570, while the GBPUSD rate returned above the 1.1900 level. However, given the sentiment over the last few days, the dollar remains strong mainly thanks to Powell's hawkish speech.

• Precious metals are trading higher amid slower yields. Gold rose over 1.0% and is testing local resistance at $1830, while silver bounced off crucial support at $20.00.

• NATGAS price fell to support at $2.5after the latest EIA report showed that last week's storage withdrawal was lower than usual for this time of year as mild weather kept heating demand low.

• Major cryptocurrencies are trading lower, pressured by concerns surrounding Silvergate and Signature Bank. Bitcoin fell to February lows around $21,400, while Ethereum broke below crucial support at $1550. 

US500 continues to move within the local downtrend. Nearest major resistance can be found at 4058 pts, however in the short term it is also worth paying attention to the EMA100 average, which managed to fend-off buyers today. Daily close below the psychological barrier of 4000 pts may encourage sellers to become more active. Source: xStation5