The dollar is little changed at the moment and trading more mixed as traders are not having very much to work with as we get the session underway. The ranges for the day are still relatively narrow for most dollar pairs although there are plenty of moving parts to take into account. Here’s a snapshot before we get into the details of that:
- USD/JPY continues to hold just above the 150 mark. This is a bit of a tricky one, especially after the quick dip lower yesterday in which there there are suggestions of possible Tokyo intervention. But for today, the pair also has an extremely large set of option expiries at the figure level to contend with. That will keep price action glued to the pivotal level until at least the expiries roll off later today.
- Stocks find some bit part relief for now. But that mostly relates to tech shares, after Intel and Amazon reported better earnings results. That being said, it still doesn’t take away from the steep losses yesterday and outside of tech, the overall mood remains more muted as evident by European stocks at the moment.
- Treasury yields continue to flip flop on the week. It started off with a retracement after hitting 5% on Monday for 10-year yields before reversing higher again in the last two days. It looked like we would revisit the 5% mark again before another turnaround that dragged yields lower to 4.84% yesterday. But now, we are seeing yields push higher in Europe to 4.88% and so that is keeping broader market sentiment on edge.
- Safety flows ahead of the weekend again? That will be a consideration once again but we’ll probably only see more of that later in US trading. It will at least be a factor to be mindful of for equities if anything else, as well as commodities. And for now, we’re already seeing gold keep steadier while oil is up over 1% on the day.
- US data still to come. For today, we will be getting the PCE price index and that will be a potential mover for the bond market and the dollar. It is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation and so any significant deviation from estimates may allow for some decent action before the weekend.