Morning wrap (16.02.2024)

• Wall Street indices finished yesterday's trading higher after weaker-than-expected retail sales and industrial production data from the United States boosted hopes for quicker Fed rate cuts
• S&P 500 gained 0.58%, Dow Jones jumps 0.91%, Nasdaq added 0.30% and small-cap Russell 2000 rallied almost 2.50%
• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded higher today - Nikkei gained almost 1.0%, S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.7% higher, Kospi jumped 1.3% and Nifty 50 moved 0.6% higher. Hang Seng rallied over 2%
• European index futures point to a higher opening of the cash session today
• Fed Bostic said that US central bank is likely to consider rate cuts soon but there is no urgency to deliver them
• BoJ Governor Ueda said that the bank will consider policy moves once inflation target is achieved sustainably
• Ueda also said that based on the economic and inflation outlook, accomodative monetary conditions will continue even after ending negative interest rates
• New Zealand's manufacturing PMI improved from 43.4 to 47.3 in January. Employment subindex climbed to 51.3 - the first reading in expansion territory (above 50 pts) since February 2023
• Cryptocurrencies extend gains, with Bitcoin holding above $52,000 mark
• Energy commodities trade little changed - US natural gas prices gain 0.2% while oil trades flat
• Precious metals pull back - gold and silver trade flat, while platinum drops 0.6% and palladium declines 0.8%
• USD and AUD are the best performing major currencies while JPY and NZD lag the most

USDJPY resumes climb after a brief two-day correction. Pair continues to trade above 150.00 level associated with BoJ interventions. BoJ, however, limited itself to verbal interventions so far. Source: xStation5