Headlines:
Markets:
- USD leads, JPY and CHF lag on the day
- European equities mostly lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.7%
- US 10-year yields up 9.8 bps to 3.960%
- Gold up 0.2% to $2,066.95
- WTI crude up 2.0% to $73.07
- Bitcoin up 4.2% to $45,470
The day started off like it would be a bright one for risk trades before it all turned around as market players get settled in to the new year. European stocks got off to a strong open before stumbling as we reach midday, with bonds also falling i.e. higher yields during the session.
In FX, the dollar was holding a bit more mixed before the turn lower in stocks prompted a strong bid in the greenback. EUR/USD was down to around 1.1020 before accelerating losses to 1.0960 currently, at the lows for the day. USD/JPY also pushed higher from 141.50 to 142.20 as it takes out its 100-hour moving average at 141.79 on the day.
As equities proved to be a drag, commodity currencies also stuttered with USD/CAD rising from 1.3240 to 1.3280 and AUD/USD slipping from 0.6830 in Asia to 0.6790 at the moment.
There wasn’t much in terms of headlines leading to the moves above as it seems like it is mostly just a return of flows after the holiday period. For Japan though, the aftershocks in Ishikawa are still reverberating while there was a rather rare and unfortunate aviation incident in Tokyo which took the lives of 5 persons. The Haneda Airport is still closed as of time of writing due to that.
In other markets, gold is a touch higher at $2,067 but off earlier highs around $2,075 while Bitcoin is looking to a surging start to the new year in a push above $45,000.