Chinese New Year celebrations – many centres are closed in Asia. Treasuries sagged to end on a bearish week. USDIndex at 101.30 low as the market continued to price out a 25 bp rate hike on February 1 & BoJ’s latest attempt to keep a lid on yields, along with some profit taking. Wall Street (US100 +2.66%), 10-year Treasury yield is at 3.48%. Options expirations likely helped support the advance. A report of big layoffs at Alphabet added to recession fears and weighed initially, but signs of cost cutting enticed dip buying. Goldman Sachs slipped on reports of a DoJ probe into its consumer unit.
- The USD Index sagged at 101.32.
- EUR – is flirting with the 1.09 mark.
- JPY – sold off and USDJPY lifted to 130.21, although the USD corrected against most other currencies.
- GBP – slipped to 1.2400 again after the data this morning. The UK consumer confidence is finally improving. The FT reported that the Deloitte Consumer Tracker rose 0.6 points – the first improvement in five consecutive quarters.
- Stocks – The US100 surged a heady 2.66%, with the US500 up 1.89% and the US30 1.0% higher. The Nikkei rallied 1.3%, the Topix added around 1%. The ASX managed a 0.1% gain and European stock futures are higher. GER40 +0.5%, UK100 +0.2%.
- Citadel breaks records with $16bn profit. Ken Griffin’s hedge fund charged its investors $12bn in fees and expenses in 2022.
- USOil – tops at $81.40, as USD supports crude prices.
- Gold – retested $1,937 highs but turned to $1,920 lows since then.
- BTC – spikes to 22,800 area (September’s peak) – Risky trades?
Today – ECB’s Lagarde and Panetta speech. A quarter of the S&P 500 report this week starting with Microsoft on Tuesday. Biggest FX Mover @ (07:30 GMT) EURJPY (+0.87%). Rallied to 141.90. MAs aligned higher, MACD histogram & signal line positive & rising. RSI 77.85, OB & rising, H1 ATR 0.278, Daily ATR 1.834.
