Morning wrap (22.08.2023)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading mixed. Tech sector outperformed, driving 0.69% gain on S&P 500 and over 1.5% jump on Nasdaq. 'Old economy' stocks lagged with Dow Jones dropping 0.11% and Russell 2000 closing 0.21% lower

• Sentiment towards tech stocks is improving as we are approaching Nvidia earnings (scheduled for tomorrow after market close). Nvidia shares rallied 8.5% yesterday!

• Treasuries resumed sell-off after a brief pause on Friday. The 10-year US yield climbed to 4.34% - the highest level since the second half of 2007

• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher today - Nikkei gained 0.9%, Kospi added 0.2%, Nifty 50 traded 0.1% higher and S&P/ASX 200 traded flat. Indices from China were laggards, dropping 0.1-0.7%

• European index futures point to a higher opening of the cash session on the Old Continent

• Bank of Japan Governor Ueda met with Japanese prime minister Kishida today. While the two discussed the July's policy decision, topic of FX volatility was not touched

• According to China Securities Daily, Chinese banks accelerate cuts to mortgage rates

• Cryptocurrencies trade under pressure with Bitcoin and Ethereum dropping around 0.7%. However, they still trade above lows from last week's rout

• Energy commodities pull back - oil drops 0.3% while US natural gas prices decline 1%

• Precious metals trade slightly lower - gold trades flat while silver and platinum drops around 0.2%

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

Sell-off on the US bond market continues with TNOTE dropping to the lowest level since October 2022. Source: xStation5