- Wall Street extended post-FOMC jump into the second day, with S&P 500 gaining 0.4%, Dow Jones adding 0.7%, Nasdaq trading 0.3% higher and small-cap Russell 2000 advancing 1.2%
- However, part of the post-FOMC moves was erased in the afternoon, especially on precious metals and USD markets. Equity indices pulled back from daily highs
- Precious metals slumped as USD regained ground - gold drops 0.9%, silver slumps 3.4%, platinum trades 0.6% lower and palladium plunges 2.4%
- Oil traded lower today, with Brent dropping 0.5% at press time and WTI trading 0.7% lower
- USD and CAD are the best performing G10 currencies, while CHF and GBP lag the most
- Bitcoin dropped below $66,000, erasing around half of yesterday's gains
- European stock market indices traded higher today, reacting to yesterday's post-FOMC jump on Wall Street. German DAX gained 0.9%, UK FTSE 100 jumped almost 1.9%, French CAC40 added 0.2%, Dutch AEX rallied 1.7% and Spanish IBEX moved 1.1% higher
- GBP dropped after Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 5.25%, in-line with market expectations. BoE Governor Bailey said that it is reasonable that markets are pricing in rate cuts later this year
- CHF dropped after Swiss National Bank unexpectedly cut main interest rate by 25 basis points from 1.75 to 1.50% (exp. 1.75%)
- TRY gained after CBRT announced an unexpected a 500 basis point rate hike, pushing one-week repo rate from 45.00 to 50.00% (exp 45.00%)
- NOK weakened after Norges Bank left interest rates unchanged at 4.50%, in-line with market expectations
- Apple shares dropped 4% after US Department of Justice launched an antitrust investigation into the company
- German manufacturing PMI index dropped from 42.5 to 41.6 in March (exp. 43.1), while services index improved from 48.3 to 49.8 (exp. 48.8)
- French manufacturing PMI index dropped from 47.1 to 47.5 in March (exp. 48.6), while services index dropped from 48.4 to 47.8 (exp. 48.6)
- Euro area manufacturing PMI index dropped from 46.5 to 45.7 in March (exp. 47.0), while services index improved from 50.2 to 51.1 (exp. 50.5)
- UK manufacturing PMI index improved from 47.5 to 49.9 in March (exp. 47.7), while services index dropped from 53.8 to 53.4 (exp. 53.8)
- US manufacturing PMI index ticked higher from 52.2 to 52.5 in March (exp. 51.7), while services index dropped 52.3 to 51.7 (exp. 52.0)
- US existing home sales increased 9.5% MoM in February to 4.38 million (exp. 3.94 million)
- US initial jobless claims came in at 210k (exp. 215k), while continuing claims were reported at 1807k (exp. 1820k)
- EIA report showed a 7 billion cubic feet increase in US natural gas inventories (exp. +4 bcf)
US dollar index (USDIDX) rallied today, erasing all of post-FOMC losses and returning to the 103.70 area. Source: xStation5
