Morning wrap (05.03.2024)

• Wall Street indices finished yesterday's session lower, making a pause after rallying to all-time highs at the end of the previous week. S&P 500 dropped 0.12%. Dow Jones moved 0.25% lower, Nasdaq declined 0.41% and small-cap Russell 2000 moved 0.10% lower
• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today - Nikkei gained 0.1%, S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.1%, Kospi declined 0.8%, Nifty 50 moved 0.3% lower and indices from China traded mostly higher
• DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European cash session today
• Bitcoin continues to gain and reached a daily high near $68,700 during the Asia-Pacific session today. All-time highs from November 2021 can be found slightly below $69,000 mark
• According to a Reuters report, China will target economic growth of 'around 5%' in 2024, similar as in 2023
• US Securities and Exchange Commission delayed spot Ethereum ETF from BlackRock, which is now expected not to receive approval before May
• Chinese private services PMI index ticked lower from 52.7 to 52.5 in February (exp. 52.9)
• Core CPI inflation in Japanese Tokyo area accelerated from 1.8% to 2.5% YoY in February (exp. 2.5% YoY)
• Australian final services PMI for February came in at 53.1, up from 52.8 signalled in flash release
• Australian current account balance for Q4 2023 showed a surplus of A$11.8 billion (exp. +A$4.95 billion)
• Energy commodities trade lower today - oil drops 0.5% while US natural gas prices trade 0.3% lower
• Precious metals trade mostly lower amid USD strengthening - silver drops 0.3%, platinum trades 0.8% lower and palladium slumps 1.5%. Gold trades 0.1% higher after making the first daily close above $2,100 yesterday
• USD and EUR are the best performing major currencies, while AUD and NZD lag the most

Bitcoin is moving closer and closer to 2021 all-time highs. Coin traded as high as $68,700 earlier today - less than $300 below record highs. Source: xStation5