- European indices finished today's session lower on Friday, with Dax easing 1.31% led by financials as traders weighed signs of stress in the US banking system against US jobs data. For the week, the STOXX 600 lost 2.5% and Germany's DAX 40 dropped 1.2%
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FTSE100 closed 1.67% lower as fresh data showed Britain's economy expanded 0.3% in January, more than expected, despite a contraction in manufacturing. Investors now await UK employment and wage data to be published on Tuesday and British finance minister Jeremy Hunt's new budget due on Wednesday.
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Major Wall Street indexes continue to move lower, with Dow Jones losing 1.20%, while S&P500 and Nasdaq fell by 1.40% and 1.70% respectively as NFP report showed an acceleration in job growth in US economy, with 311 thousand jobs created in February, more than an expected 205 thousand rise. On the other hand, wage growth came in slightly below expectations, while the jobless rate picked up as more people entered the labor force.
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Also concerns over the condition of the US financial sector also weighed on sentiment. Silicon Valley Bank stock plunged 60.0% during today’s session after which trading was halted. Later in the session California Dept of Financial Protection and Innovation closed the bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver.
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The market is now pricing a 50/50 chance of the Fed raising rates by either 25 bps or 50 bps this month, compared to a better-than-even chance of a 50 bps increase earlier. Traders now await the US CPI report due next week.
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Oil prices bounced off daily lows and are trading 1.0% higher as fresh US jobs data weighed on greenback. Still, OIL.WTI remains down almost 4% this week.
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Precious metals prices rose sharply on Friday also supported by weaker USD. Gold erased Tuesday's losses and jumped to weekly high around $1868. Silver also rebounded sharply and however failed to stay above major resistance at $ 20.66.
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US dollar is the worst performing G10 currency today. EURUSD tested resistance at 1.0700 in the afternoon, while USDCAD briefly tested support at 1.3770 after a better than expected jobs report from Canada. Despite negative sentiment greenback managed to erase some of the losses in the afternoon.
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Major cryptocurrencies remain under pressure, weighed down by the definitive closure of crypto-bank Silvergate Capital and deterioration of sentiment on the global stock market. Bitcoin fell below the psychological barrier of $20,000 and the Ethereum price fell below $1,400 mark.
Yesterday, Bitcoin broke below an important support zone at $21,215 and nearly closed the bullish price gap from mid-January. If current sentiment prevails and break below the $19,450 occurs, then the way towards $18,250 will be open. Source: xStation5
