Summary:
-
US indices extend early gains as risk returns
-
DE30 recovers from soft start but ITA40 falls to 15-month low
-
USD pulls back from recent highs as Philly Fed shows large drop
-
Crypto markets mixed as South Korea announce blockchain investment
-
Commodity wrap
It been a day of green for US stock markets, with all 3 major indices in the green at the time of writing. The markets are looking to regain their footing after a wobble yesterday which saw the US500 drop by almost 40 points from its highest level of the day to make a low of 2803 before recovering into the close. The index has rallied to its highest level of the week on the European close and now looks well placed to make further gains into the weekend.
The European open was positive for most benchmarks on the continent in response to lowered risks related to trade tensions between the US and China, but internal issues in Italy have successfully prevented Italian shares from rises. Concerns regarding the country’s budget have pushed yields (especially those at the short-end of the curve) much higher suggesting that investors are getting more worried about needs to more bond issuance to meet rising demands. The ITA40 earlier fell to its lowest level in 15-months, but elsewhere it’s looking better with the DE30 higher on the day at the time of writing.
The most recent data out from the US this afternoon has come in on the soft side with the Philly Fed read in particular a possible cause of concern. For the current month a print of 11.9 was well below the 21.9 consensus forecast and marks a large drop from the 25.7 seen last time out. In fact the reading was the lowest since November 2016 - when Trump won the US election. The US dollar hit a 13-month high yesterday, but it has fallen back a little in today’s session.
The crypto bears’ siege has eased recently allowing the cryptocurrency market capitalization to return above the $200 billion mark. The markets are a little mixed overall on the day with Ripple and Ethereum higher, but the other 3 all in the red. Among the news highlighted today one can find the latest South Korean budget plans as well as ambitions of one island to become an ICO-friendly zone.
We earlier posted our latest commodity wrap which focuses on Oil, Gold, Coffee and Wheat.
