There is now (CME marketwatch) an 83% chance of a 25 bp FED HIKE in May, from 74% on Friday, as mixed US data (a Big miss fro Retail Sales, and minor beats for Ind. Production & Consumer Sentiment) saw USD rally 1 big number from 12-mth lows, & GOLD crash below $2000. US Stocks closed lower (-0.35% to -0.72%) despite big Earnings beats from the Banks, JPM +7.6%, but Boeing tanked -5.6% as fault from supplier Spirit (-20.7%) halted deliveries of 737 MAX. Asian markets were higher (Nikkei hit a 6-week high) to start the week before cooling.
Weekend (IMF Meeting) & Overnight Data – Ueda had more dovish comments, Yellen said bank credit tightening could be a substitute for further Fed rate hikes, Lagarde warned of a “narrow path” for global economic recovery and Dimon expects rates to be “higher for longer”.
NZD Performance Services Index misses at 54.4 vs. 55.8 but Food Inflation cooled to 0.8% from 1.5% & China’s New Home prices rose at their fastest pace in 21 months.
- FX – USDIndex bounced from under 100.50 and 12-mth lows over 100 pips to 101.50 but still registered a seventh consecutive week of declines and trades at 101.25 now. EUR declined from 1.1075 to 1.0970 and trades at 1.0990 now testing 1.1000. JPY tested 132.00 on Friday before rallying to over 134.00 today. Sterling rallied to breach 1.2545 on Friday before declining under 1.2400 earlier but trades at 1.2415 now.
- Stocks – US markets closed down across all sectors (-0.35% to -0.72%) as the rate sensitive Tech sector led the rally. #US500 closed -8.58 pts. at 4137. – US500 FUTS are flat today at 4169 having been as high as 4188 on Friday and above the key resistance at 4175. #CITI, +4.8% & #Blackrock +3.1%.
- Commodities – USOil – Futures continue to rotate around $82.50 today. Gold – tanked from a test of the $2050, level on Friday to under $1995. The key metal is back over $2000 today and trades at $2010.
- Cryptocurrencies – BTC holds under the $30k level today from a brief spike over $31k on Friday.
Today – Empire State Manu. Index – speeches from BOE’s Cunliffe, ECB’s Lagarde and Bundesbank’s Nagel. Biggest FX Mover @ (06:30 GMT) AUDJPY (+0.31%). Continued to rally and is now 7 days higher from under 88.00 to test 90.00 once again today. MAs aligned higher, MACD histogram & signal line positive & rising, RSI 58.65 & rising, H1 ATR 0.155, Daily ATR 0.9200.