Friday, June 7, 2024

Capital Markets: "The Dollar Remains Soft Ahead of the Employment Report"

From Marc Chandler at Bannockburn Global Forex:

Overview: The dollar is little changed against the major currencies ahead of the US jobs report. It has been trading heavier than we expected given that two more G10 central banks cut interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve. Next week is its meeting and the market-sensitive CPI. US rates have fallen, and as we note below, the US two-year premium over Germany is at its lowest in nearly three months. The euro is about 0.4% higher on the week ahead of the US data. The odds of two Fed cut this year are now near 90%, double a week ago. Only the Canadian dollar and Norwegian krone among the G10 have not risen against the greenback so far this week. Falling US bond yields helped lift the yen by over 1%, for its best week since intervention in early May. A larger-than-expected Chinese trade surplus and may have helped the Chinese yuan today, but this week, like last week, it is virtually unchanged. The Mexican peso has stabilized after yesterday's sharp drop.

Equities are mostly lower today. In Asia Pacific, India stands out with a 2% advance and is up about 3.5% this week. Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia were lower, and China mixed. Still, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index is finishing higher on the week, recouping about half of what it lost in the past two weeks. Europe's Stoxx 600 is also snapping a two-week decline. But its gain is being pared today by about 0.3%, leaving it up a little less than 1% this week. US index futures are little changed now and are up 2.0%-2.5% this week. Gold is staging a large downside reversal following news that the PBOC did not buy gold last month for the first time in 18-months. Gold initially took out yesterday's high (~$2378.60) before turning down and taking out yesterday's low ($2354.60). It is near $2339 in Europe. It settled near $2327 last week. July WTI extended its recovery from the $72.50 area seen on Tuesday, a four-monthly low. It reached a four-day high near $75.65 today, but it is still off around 1.8% this week, its third consecutive weekly loss....

....MUCH MORE