Oh what a boring night it was last night with no fresh catalysts for movement so traders didn’t do much after the gyrations of last week.
Except of course gold traders who took the precious metal higher and Aussie dollar which fell to 0.8905 a little after the Toyota announcement to quit manufacturing here in Australia before bouncing back to the middle of the current box.
Elsewhere though it was a fairly quiet night on the data front but there was enough in the French and Italian falls in Industrial production (-0.3% and 0.9% respectively) to trouble European stock markets with the CAC down 0.13%, the FTSE MIB down a smidge at 0.05% while stocks in Madrid were off 0.89%. In London the FTSE rose 0.31% and the CAC liked the bad news rising 0.21%.
On US stock markets there is not much action happening as traders await Janet Yellens first walk up to Capitol Hill as Fed Chair tonight Australian time. As an accomplished central banker it is unlikely that she will put a foot wrong but she is likely to be quizzed on the state of the economy and in particular the state of the US employment market.
At the close the Dow is up 0.05%, the Nasdaq up 0.54% and the S&P 500 has moved just 3 points higher to 1800. Locally the March SPI 200 contract is up 5 points to 5174 bid.
On global FX markets its was all quiet as well with the Euro higher but only just at 1.3635, GBP down 0.05% at 1.6400 and USDJPY down a little at 102.19 but off the low of 101.97. The Aussie is a little weaker at 0.8941 but a fall of 0.2% is nothing in real terms.
It looks like a 1 cent box for the Aussie at the moment – 89-90 with a slight downside bias on this 4 hour chart.
The gold price was up $11.50 or 0.91% to $1,274.60.
The 4 hour charts look a little over cooked and the dailies have solid overhead resistance at about $1280 but if gold can break through then it is off and running.
Silver bounced 1.97% with the precious metal move suggesting there is lingering fears about the state and future direction of markets. Copper sits at $3.27 lb while on the Ags corn fell 0.34%, wheat rose 1.26% and soybeans fell 0.45%. Crude slipped just slightly back under $100 Bbl this morning at $99.94.
On the data front today we get the first public release of the ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Sentiment survey. We also get Home Loan and House Price data along with the NAB’s Monthly Business Survey. Tonight its a US focus with Yellen speaking.
Have a great day, good hunting and don’t forget the old adage – don’t trade if there’s no trade
Greg
NB: Please note all references to rates above are approximate