Monday 6th April: Oil drops as OPEC+ meeting scheduled; China off

content provided with permission by IC MArkets

Global Markets:

  • Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 4.24%, Hang Seng up 2.04%, ASX up 4.33%
  • Commodities : Gold at $1658.05 (+0.75%), Silver at $14.71 (+1.51%), Brent Oil at $33.82 (-0.85%), WTI Oil at $27.91 (-1.52%)
  • Rates : US 10-year yield at 0.657, UK 10-year yield at 0.343, Germany 10-year yield at -0.409

News & Data:

  • (USD) ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI 52.5 vs 43.5 expected
  • (USD) Unemployment Rate 4.40% vs 3.80% expected
  • (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change -701K vs -100K expected
  • (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m 0.40% vs 0.20% expected
  • (GBP) Final Services PMI 34.5 vs 34.7 expected
  • French FinMin Le Maire: EU Fund Needs To Be Hundreds Of Billions Of Euros
  • Russia and Saudi Arabia are ‘very, very close’ to an oil production deal, says Russia’s Dmitriev

CFTC Positioning Data:

  • EUR long 74K vs 61K long last week. Longs increased by 13k
  • GBP long 5K vs 11K long last week. Longs trimmed by 6K
  • JPY long 18K vs 24K long last week. Longs trimmed by 6K
  • CHF long 5K vs 5K long last week. No change in the current week.
  • AUD short 31k vs 25K short last week. Shorts increased by 6K
  • NZD short 16K vs 16K short last week. No change in the current week.
  • CAD short 22k vs 29K short last week. Shorts trimmed by 7K.

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Monday despite the negative cues from Wall Street Friday after a report from the U.S. Labor Department showed that employment in the U.S. fell much more than expected in the month of March.

Investor sentiment received a boost amid optimism that the number of coronavirus cases in New York, a U.S. hotspot for the pandemic, may be peaking. New York State reported its first decline in the number of daily coronavirus-related deaths as well as hospitalizations on Sunday. The coronavirus-related death toll in France and Italy has also slowed.

Stocks in Japan were among the biggest gainers of the day, with the Nikkei 225 rising 4.2%. South Korea’s Kospi also advanced 3.9%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 2.0%. Shares in Australia also saw substantial gains, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing 4.33% higher.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.632 after crossing the 100 level last week. U.S. crude futures had fallen 9% after a scheduled meeting between OPEC and its allies — collectively referred to as OPEC+ — was pushed back, raising fears that a production cut might face challenges.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, April 06, 2020

  • 02:30 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Business Outlook Survey
  • 10:00 PM GMT – (NZD) NZIER Business Confidence

Tuesday, April 07, 2020

  • 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) Trade Balance
  • 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) Cash Rate
  • 04:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Rate Statement

Wednesday, April 08, 2020

  • Tentative – (All) OPEC Meetings
  • Tentative – (All) OPEC-JMMC Meetings
  • Tentative – (USD) FOMC Meeting Minutes

Thursday, April 09, 2020

  • 12:30 AM GMT – (JPY) BOJ Gov Kuroda Speaks
  • 01:30 AM GMT – (AUD) RBA Financial Stability Review
  • 06:00 AM GMT – (GBP) GDP m/m
  • 11:30 AM GMT – (EUR) ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Employment Change
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Unemployment Rate
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Claims
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core PPI m/m
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) PPI m/m
  • 02:00 PM GMT – (USD) Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment

Friday, April 10, 2020

  • 01:30 AM GMT – (CNY) CPI y/y
  • 10th-15th GMT – (CNY) New Loans
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) CPI m/m
  • 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core CPI m/m