Morning wrap (16.02.2023)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading slightly higher. S&P 500 gained 0.28%, Dow Jones moved 0.11% higher and Nasdaq jumped 0.92%. Russell 2000 was top performer with a 1.09% gain

• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher today. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 gained around 0.7%, Kospi moved almost 2% higher and Nifty 50 added 0.4%. Indices from China traded up to 1% higher

• DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of the European cash session today

• Chinese President Xi Jinping vows to boost industrial and investment cooperation between China and Central Asian countries

• Goldman Sachs now estimates probability of US recession over the next 12 months at just 25%, down from previous estimate of 35%

• AUD took a hit following the release of disappointing jobs data for January. Australian employment dropped by 11.5k in January (exp. +20k) and the unemployment rate jumped from 3.5 to 3.7% (exp. 3.5%).

• Japanese exports increased 3.5% YoY in January (exp. +0.8% YoY) while imports were 17.8% YoY higher (exp. +18.4% YoY)

• Japanese core machinery orders increased by 1.6% MoM in December (exp. +2.8% MoM)

• Cryptocurrencies trade higher - Bitcoin gains 2.2% while Ethereum and Dogecoin trade around 1.7% higher each

• Energy commodities gain - oil trades 0.8% higher while US natural gas prices add 0.4%

• Precious metals catch a breath, thanks to USD weakness, and trade slightly higher. Silver gains 0.2%, platinum adds 0.3% while gold trades flat

• EUR and NZD are the best performing major currencies while USD and GBP lag the most

AUDUSD dipped following disappointing jobs data from Australia (orange circle). However, the drop was short-lived and the pair quickly recovered. Source: xStation5