- Wall Street indices launched today's cash session little changed, but managed to catch a bid later on and now are trading slightly higher. S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000 all gain around 0.2% at press time
- Gold caught a bid in the early afternoon and rallied to fresh all-time highs. Gold is trading over 1.5% higher at press time and is testing $2,500 per ounce area
- Gains on gold market are driven by expectations of imminent launch of Fed easing cycle, with the first rate cut coming at September meeting
- European stock market indices traded mostly higher today. German DAX gained 0.8%, UK FTSE 100 dropped 0.4%, French CAC40 added 0.35% and Spanish Ibex jumped 0.6%
- US building permits declined 4.0% MoM in July to 1396k (exp. 1425k), while housing starts dropped 6.8% MoM to 1238k (exp. 1333k)
- Flash data for August from University of Michigan showed headline Consumer Sentiment index jumping from 66.4 to 67.8 (exp. 66.9), driven by Expectations subindex jumping from 68.8 to 72.1 (exp. 68.5). Current conditions subindex dropped from 62.7 to 60.9 (exp. 63.1)
- University of Michigan short-term and long-term inflation expectations remained unchanged at 2.9% (exp. 2.9%) and 3.0% (exp. 2.9%), respectively
- Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate for Q3 GDP growth is now 2.0%, down from previous 2.4% reading
- Canadian annualized housing starts for July came in at 279.5k (exp. 245k), up from 241.7k in June
- UK retail sales increased 1.4% YoY in July (exp. 1.6% YoY), following a 0.3% YoY drop in June. On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 0.5% MoM (exp. 0.6% MoM)
- Major cryptocurrencies gain - Bitcoin gains 2.7% and climbs back above $59,000 mark
- Energy commodities drop - oil declines 1.3%, while US natural gas prices plunge 3.5%
- Precious metals trading mixed - gold gains 1.6%, silver jumps 1.5%, platinum drops 0.1% and palladium trades 0.5% lower
- JPY and NZD are the best performing major currencies, while USD and CAD lag the most
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