Morning wrap (16.02.2022)

• US indices gained yesterday as Russian-Ukrainian tensions eased somewhat. S&P 500 added 1.58%, Dow Jones gained 1.22% while Nasdaq and Russell 2000 rallied over 2.5%

• Optimism extended into Asian trading hours with Nikkei gaining 2.2%, Kospi moving 2% higher and S&P/ASX 200 adding 1.1%. Indices from China traded 0.5-1.2% higher

• DAX futures point to a more or less flat opening of the European cash trading session today

• Joe Biden said that the United States hasn't verified information on withdrawal of Russian troops. Biden said that invasion on Ukraine remains a possibility

• 20 out of 84 economists in Reuters poll already expect Fed to hike rates by 20 basis points in March

• Australian Treasury Secretary Kennedy said that fiscal support needs to be tapered once the country deals with Covid-19 pandemic

• ECB's Schnabel said that argument to end net asset purchases was lack of benefits over additional costs

• Chinese CPI inflation decelerated from 1.5% to 0.9% YoY in January (exp. 1.0% YoY). PPI inflation decelerated from 10.3% to 9.1% YoY in January (exp. 9.4% YoY). PPI inflation 

• API report pointed to a 1.07 million barrel drop in US crude oil inventories (exp. -1.7 mb)

• Cryptocurrencies trade mixed - Bitcoin and Dogecoin drop slightly while Ethereum and Ripple gain

• Oil trades a touch higher on the day. Precious metals gain slightly

• AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while JPY, CHF and USD lag the most

Safe haven currencies, like CHF or JPY, are giving back some of recent gains. NZDJPY bounced off the lower limit of a trading range at around 76.20 and launched a recovery move. The pair is approaching the resistance zone ranging above the 77.25 and marked with previous price reactions as well as 50-session moving average (green line). Source: xStation5