USD: Greenback Fades as Powell Kicks Back on Pricing

Mar-08 15:41
  • Greenback edging to the lowest levels of the session, with both EUR/USD and GBP/USD faring better. Moves remain minor in comparison to the USD rally posted Tuesday, but EUR/USD has now cleared intraday resistance at 1.0565 and is narrowing the gap with the next intraday level of 1.0589.
  • EUR futures have posted a modest uptick in volumes across the past 20 minutes or so, largely triggered by the Powell comments ("stresses no decision made on pace of rate hikes"), which have also helped equity futures recover further off lows. Real estate, tech names the outperformers in the US so far.

Historical bullets

US: House Speaker McCarthy To Deliver Address On Debt Ceiling @ 1730ET

Feb-06 15:39

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will deliver an address on the debt ceiling later today at 1730ET (1430PT, 2230GMT, 0730JST) according to his office. The address comes 24 hours before President Joe Biden delivers his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.

  • Last week, McCarthy and Biden help their first face-to-face discussion on the debt ceiling since the California representative took the Speaker's gavel.
  • There remain divisions within the Republican party as to the scale of spending cuts required in order to gain support for raising the debt ceiling.

EQUITIES: Stocks Edge Through Overnight Lows, But Uptrend Remains Intact

Feb-06 15:38
  • US equity futures manage to slip below the earlier lows, putting the e-mini S&P at 4104.00 and making for a 2.5% pullback off the FOMC highs last Wednesday.
  • The communication services and material sectors are leading the way lower as soft energy prices and sour earnings releases (Tyson Foods, Activision Blizzard) weigh at the margins. Gold miners (namely Newmont) are particularly impacted, although the company is sliding on M&A reports rather than the pullback in the gold price itself.
  • The NYSE TICK Index shows sales programs at 1032ET, 1016ET adding the pressure - with no headlines or underlying driving for stock markets at present.
  • Despite the Monday pullback, the over-arching uptrend in the e-mini S&P keeps prices above first support at the 20-day EMA at 4040.48.

STIR: BLOCK, Sep'23 SOFR Put Spds

Feb-06 15:33
  • Total 20,000 SFRU3 94.37/95.25 put spds, 17.0 ref 94.99