Headlines:
- No guidance from Jackson Hole?
- USD/JPY extends gains as focus turns to Fed Chair Warsh’s speech
- Gold stays locked in ahead of Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech
- How have interest rate expectations changed after this week’s events?
- France Q2 final GDP +0.0% vs +0.2% q/q prelim
- France August preliminary CPI +2.4% vs +2.4% y/y expected
- Spain August preliminary CPI +4.3% vs +4.2% y/y expected
- German unemployment rises a little less than expected in August
- Month-end fixing to be mildly supportive of the dollar – BofA
- Some slight dollar selling likely to be the case for this month-end – Credit Agricole
Markets:
- USD little changed
- Gold flat at $4,599
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures flat
- WTI crude oil up 0.4% to $83.22
- US 10-year yields up 1.2 bps to 4.686%
- Bitcoin down 0.6% to $79,631
It was a quiet session for the most part as market players are all waiting with bated breath on Fed chair Warsh’s appearance in Jackson Hole later. The speech, even if not likely to offer much, is the key risk event for markets to end the week.
As such, the lead up to that is pretty much a bit of a dud as traders and investors are not wanting to take a run at anything for now.
The US dollar is sitting little changed, with light movements all around. EUR/USD is flat and holding within a 15 pips range today at 1.1645 currently. Meanwhile, USD/JPY is just up 0.2% to 159.65 on the day.
Besides that, gold is also holding flattish close to the $4,600 mark with US futures also showing little enthusiasm today. S&P 500 futures are flat with Nasdaq futures down 0.2% currently. But at least in Europe, equities are seeing slight gains with French stocks in particular recovering after a poor showing yesterday. The DAX on the other hand has once again pushed up to near all-time highs. So, there’s that.
In other markets, oil prices remain more tepid as US-Iran tensions continue to simmer. For all the optimistic talk this week, there’s still nothing to show for and we will yet see another week of prolonged conflict heading into September. WTI crude oil is down 0.4% to $83.22 on the day.
Month-end flows will also be part and parcel of the picture in the session ahead and also perhaps on Monday next week. So, just keep that in mind as things might get a little bit messy before we break for the weekend later.
Have a good Friday and a wonderful weekend.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.