Morning wrap (02.06.2023)

• US indices finished the first trading session of a new month with decent gains. S&P 500 gained 0.99%, Dow Jones moved 0.47% higher while Nasdaq surged 1.28%. Russell 2000 added 1.05%

• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded higher today. Nikkei and Kospi gained 1%, S&P/ASX 200 moved 0.4% higher while Nifty 50 added 0.2%. Indices from China rallied

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

• US Senate passed a debt ceiling bill and it will now head to the White House for President Biden to sign. Biden will deliver a speech at 7:00 pm ET today (00:00 am BST) and it is expected that he will sign the bill then

• Fed Harker said the US central bank is approaching a point where it can hold rates in place. Harker said that incoming data is being monitored closely in order to assess whether any additional tightening is needed

• ECB Panetta said that European Central Bank has not yet reached rate peak but caution that it is not the time to go fast on rates

• BoJ Governor Ueda said that the Bank of Japan will maintain massive monetary easing given that it will take some time to achieve the CPI target.

• Australian home loans dropped 3.8% MoM in April (exp. +3.0% MoM)

• Cryptocurrencies trade higher - Bitcoin gains 0.8%, Ethereum adds 1.3% while Dogecoin trades 0.7% higher

• Energy commodities trade slightly higher - oil adds 0.5% while US natural gas prices advance 0.4%

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

GOLD extends recovery move launched after a failure to break below $1,950 support zone. Precious metal is supported by a dovish turn from Fed members. Source: xStation5