Rising COVID-19 cases in China dent market sentiment

Morning Brief

The Shanghai COVID-19 outbreak continues to be worsened as cases mounted to new daily highs again over the weekend. COVID-19 cases have risen for two days in a row now.

Food shortages also continue, as do widespread protests about the severity of the lockdowns. There is currently no end to the lockdown of the city in sight. Jilin remains in its month-long+ lockdown. Cases are rising in the major manufacturing hub of Guangzhou.

The French presidential election was a major mover over the weekend, albeit just round 1. President Macron came out ahead in this first vote, however, it very close and markets will be braced for April 24 second round of votes.

In terms of market moves, it’s all about the euro of course. The EURUSD pair has spent the balance of the Asian session retracing an initial ‘gap’ after spiking on the Macron win, bit is little net changed on the session now.

The Japanese yen is still falling, with USDJPY approaching 125.00. Both Governor Kuroda and the official who heads up the monetary policy unit of the Bank of Japan reiterated today, in separate sets of comments, that the BOJ remains committed to its ultra-loose monetary policy and will ease even further if it sees fit.

Other moves in the currency market are pretty much market by US dollar strength. The GBPUSD pair continues to flirt with the 1.3000 handle and looks braced for more losses.

In the bond market, the 10-year US Treasury yield is higher, hitting 2.76% for the first time since pre-pandemic. China’s 10-year yield fells below that for the US for the first time in 12 years.

Gold is on the move today, and is starting to strengthen above the $1,940 level, which is encouraging for bulls after the yellow metal recently held the $1,900 support level. Traders could be buying ahead of this week’s CPI report from the US which is tipped to come in hot.

Oil markets remain on the slide, with WTI slipping down towards the $95.00 support region, while Brent crude oil trades just under the psychological $100.00 benchmark trading levels.

Bitcoin has given back all its hard-fought trading gains on Sunday and is now trading at a new multi-week low. BTC traded nearly as high as $43,500 but is now back towards $42,000.