MARKET WRAP
We received quite a lot of good news today in the London and also during the US session so far. The day started off with French and German PMI’s coming in as expected but with the bonus of improving Eurozone PMI’s. The UK also beat analysts’ expectations with the Composite PMI Final and UK Markit Service PMI both coming in at 62.9.
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The US session started with the knowledge that ADP numbers were up a massive 978k compared with the consensus of 650k. And better still, the US Initial Jobless Claims dropped below 400k, down to 385k. These numbers set up the non-farm payrolls tomorrow very nicely. The US dollar has broken higher today and looks likely to close around the $90.50 level, which has caused a lot of reversals in the currency crosses.
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Having made a comment this morning about how the EURUSD had not made a new weekly low for several weeks, today’s events has pushed the EURUSD down to the 1.2125 level, which is only significant in the fact we have a lower weekly low than last week. The overall trend is still higher, but maybe a warning sign of things to come if the NFP data tomorrow is better than expected. On the ActivTrader sentiment indicator the short positioning has dropped back to 55% from above 60% this morning.
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The US EIA Weekly Crude stocks are down by -5.080M, from the previous months draw of -1.662M barrels showing decreasing supply. Crude oil had traded beyond the $69 per barrel but dropped $1 on the EIA report. The EIA report was bullish the energy complex as increasing demand and a lack of supply is good for oil prices generally. However, this was mitigated by the rise in the greenback.
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President Biden is looking to support major changes to his tax proposal in an attempt to win Republican support for a broader infrastructure package. The initial proposals for a rise in corporate tax, was that they be hiked up to 28%, which may now be coming down towards 15%. If the infrastructure package can get passed that should induce a further $1 trillion in new spending paid for through taxes. The Dow Jones reversed the London session fall on the news and at the London close had risen 300 points from the lows printed at the start of the US session.
The FTSE 100 dropped 0.6% lower to 7,064 today, down from yesterday’s three-week highs, with travel companies leading the losses following news that Portugal would be removed from the UK’s green list. The uncertainty in new variants is going to be detrimental to the tourism industry. Also, travellers will have to weigh up whether they want to risk buying tickets which may see their holiday get completely cancelled, or they may have to self-isolate, at their expense, for 10 days on their return.