Morning wrap (29.07.2021)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading mixed. S&P 500 dropped 0.02%, Dow Jones moved 0.36% lower while Nasdaq and Russell 2000 gained 0.70% and 1.51%, respectively

• Gains can be spotted all across the Asia-Pacific region today. S&P/ASX 200 gains 0.5%, Nikkei adds 0.6% and Kospi trades 0.1% higher. Major indices from China gain 0.6-3.5%

• DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European session

• Fed kept rates and size of QE unchanged. There was no mention of taper talk in statement and Powell repeated that inflation is largely transitory

• According to CNBC report, China does not have plans to ban Chinese companies from listing on US exchanges

• New US bipartisan infrastructure bill includes higher taxes and regulations for cryptocurrencies

• Disney decided to reimpose mask mandate in its theme parks in California and Florida. Twitter closed offices in San Francisco and New York. Apple will require masks to be worn in the majority of its US stores.

• Facebook reported Q2 EPS at $3.61 (exp. $3.03) and revenue at $29.08 billion (exp. $27.89). Number of daily active users remained unchanged at 1.91 billion while the number of monthly active users dropped from 2.91 to 2.90 billion, as expected.

• Bitcoin trades in the $40,000 area

• Precious metals, oil and industrial metals trade higher

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

Gold benefits from the post-FOMC weakness of the US dollar. Precious metal is trading 0.7% higher and tests 200-session moving average in the $1,820 area. Source: xStation5