Morning wrap (07.03.2024)

• Wall Street indices finished yesterday's trading higher but off the session highs. S&P 500 gained 0.51%, Dow Jones moved 0.20% higher and Nasdaq added 0.58%. Small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 0.7%
• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today - indices from Australia, South Korea and India gained, while stocks in Japan and China pulled back
• DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European cash session today
• Houthi strike on True Confidence vessel in the Gulf of Aden yesterday resulted in the death of 3 crew members. Those are the first fatalities among commercial vessels' crews since Houthis began targeting merchant ships in the Red Sea last year
• BoJ Governor Ueda said that the likelihood of achieving 2% goal is gradually rising. Ueda said that BoJ will consider rolling back stimulus measures once positive cycle of wages and inflation is confirmed
• Bloomberg reports that some Japanese government officials support a near-term policy tightening by the Bank of Japan
• Fed Kashkari said that he sees only one Fed rate cut this year
• Chinese exports increased 7.1% YoY in February (exp. 2.5% YoY), while imports were 3.5% YoY higher (exp. 2.0% YoY). Trade surplus for February reached $125.16 billion (exp. $107 billion)
• Australian trade balance for January showed surplus of A$11.03 billion (exp. A$11.5 billion)
• Major cryptocurrencies trade mixed - Bitcoin gains 0.1%, Ethereum drops 1.1%, Dogecoin plunges 4% and Ripple adds 1.4%
• Energy commodities trade higher - oil gains 0.1%, while US natural gas prices move 0.4% higher
• Precious metals trade mixed - gold gains 0.3%, silver drops 0.6%, platinum trades flat and palladium plunges 1.2%
• JPY and AUD are the best performing major currencies, while USD and GBP lag the most

Hawkish comments from BoJ officials support the Japanese yen. USDJPY drops below the 50-session moving average (green line) for the first time since mid-January 2024 and is testing the 148.50 support zone. Source: xStation5