Morning wrap (29.06.2021)

• US indices finished yesterday's trading mixed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs, gaining 0.23% and 0.98% respectively. Dow Jones dropped 0.44% while Russell 2000 moved 0.52% lower

• Stocks in Asia traded lower. Nikkei dropped 1%, S&P/ASX 200 moved 0.2% lower and Kospi declined 0.6%. Indices from China traded 0.7-1.3% lower

• DAX futures point to a more or less flat opening of the European session

• SNB's Maechler insisted that negative interest rates and FX interventions are still needed to ease pressure on CHF

• RBNZ said that monetary policy is expected to normalise over the medium term

• US banks started to resume and boost dividends after clearing Fed stress tests. JPMorgan will boost quarterly dividend from $0.90 to $1.00 per share, Goldam Sachs increases quarterly dividend from $1.25 to $2.00 and Bank of America increases dividend to $0.21 per share (+17%)

• Antitrust lawsuit against Facebook in the United States has been dismissed

• Japanese retail sales increased 8.2% YoY in May (exp. 7.9% YoY)

• Bitcoin trades near $34,500 mark

• Bears dominate the commodity markets. Precious metals, industrial metals, agricultural goods and oil all trade lower

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

Russell 2000 (US2000) lags behind other major Wall Street indices. Small-cap index failed to break above the resistance zone at 2,350 pts and launched a downward correction. Index tests support at 2,300 pts yesterday. Source: xStation5