Market Roundup
• U.S. job openings (JOLTS) rise to 5.757 million in Mar, beats 5.431m forecast.
• U.S. wholesale inventories +0.1% as forecast, sales +0.7% vs 0.3% forecast, -0.2% previous.
• Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow sees US economy on track to grow 2.2% in Q2 vs 1.7% May 4 estimate.
• Fed’s Williams: unlikely US goes to negative interest rates should be reevaluation of 2% inflation target.
• ECB asks EZ banks to detail Brexit contingency plans.
• Brazil markets rise as impeachment goes back on track; for now.
• Turkey’s Erdogan: says comments that interest rates need to fall should be taken more seriously.
Looking Ahead - Economic Data (GMT)
• 00:30 Australia Consumer Sentiment May -0.04-previous
• 01:30 Australia Housing Finance* Mar forecast -0.015, 0.02- previous
• 01:30 Australia Invest Housing Finance Mar 0.04- previous
• 15:00 Japan Foreign Reserves Apr 1262.10b- previous
• 05:00 Japan Coincident Indicator MM Mar -3.20- previous
• 05:00 Japan Leading Indicator* Mar -2.00- previous
Looking Ahead - Events, Other Releases (GMT)
• No significant events
EUR/USD is likely to find support at 1.1310 levels and currently trading at 1.1372 levels. The pair has made session high at 1.1408 and hit lows at 1.1365 levels. The pair started to fall from 1.1408 levels in the early US session as it continued its bearish momentum during the course of US market and made lows at 1.1365 levels before recovering towards 1.1372.The dollar index was at 94.171, having hit its highest in nearly two weeks earlier and extending its rise from a 15-month trough struck on May 3.Meanwhile, U.S. job openings increased in March to the highest level in eight months and layoffs continued to decline, indicating the labor market remains fairly robust despite April's slowdown in employment gains. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 149,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 million, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report.
GBP/USD is supported in the range of 1.4370 and currently trading at 1.4440 levels. It reached session high at 1.4477 and hit low at 1.4414 levels. Sterling rose on Tuesday, ending a five-day losing streak against a stronger U.S. dollar despite speculation surrounding Britain leaving the European Union. Opinion polls showed British voters are roughly evenly split, with one poll from market research company ICM on Monday showing 46 percent of those likely to vote wanted to leave, compared with 44 percent who wished to stay, with 11 percent undecided. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in London that Britain's membership of the EU has magnified its role on the global stage, echoing a pro-EU view expressed by President Barack Obama on month visit. The currency's strongest level of the session was 1.4477, while its weakest was 1.4414 .
USD/CAD is supported at 1.2900 levels and is trading at 1.2914 levels. It has made session high at 1.2978 and lows at 1.2907 levels. The Canadian dollar gained against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as crude oil prices rose, while attention turned to when production will be brought back on line in Canada's oil sands region. Oil sands companies are expected to work as quickly as possible to resume wildfire-disrupted production, but face the challenge of staff and suppliers being displaced. The loonie so far has fallen 4 percent from a 10-month high hit last week after weaker-than-expected domestic trade data and production cuts in Alberta's oil sands region hurt Canada's economic outlook. It touched a one-month low on Monday of C$1.3016. It is too early to assess the economic impact of the Alberta wildfire, the Bank of Canada said on Monday, adding that it will have more to say in its interest rate decision later this month.
USD/JPY is supported around 108.60 levels and currently trading at 109.30 levels. It has made session high at 109.35 and low at 108.92 levels. The dollar rose against Japanese yen on Tuesday, as risk appetite improved for a second straight session, undermining traditional safe havens such as the Japanese currency. Repeated verbal warnings from Japan over the weekend and on Tuesday saying it was prepared to step in to weaken the currency has also held off investors seeking to buy the yen at the expense of the dollar. The greenback has struggled recently as the Federal Reserve is on track to raise U.S. interest rates gradually. The dollar rose 0.7 percent to 109.11 yen, after hitting a roughly two-week peak of 109.27.The U.S. currency tumbled to an 18-month low of 105.55 yen last week after the Bank of Japan stood pat on monetary policy.
Equities Recap
European shares rose on Tuesday, lifted by news of progress on Greek debt talks, with Danish jeweller Pandora surging after strong results and Credit Suisse gaining after a smaller than expected loss.
Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up by 0.55 percent, France's benchmark CAC-40 index closed up by 0.15 percent, Germany's DAX ended up 0.53 percent, meanwhile the pan-European Eurofirst 300 index was up 0.82 percent.
U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday, with a rally in Amazon.com helping propel the S&P 500 to its best day in two months.
Dow Jones closed up by 1.26 percent, S&P 500 ended up by 1.25 percent, Nasdaq finished the day up by 1.25 percent.
Treasuries Recap
The U.S. government saw strong demand for its $24 billion auction of three-year notes on Tuesday, the first sale of $62 billion in coupon-bearing debt supply this week.
Benchmark 10-year notes rose 1/32 in price to yield 1.76 percent, little changed from Monday. Comparable German government bonds, by comparison, yield 0.12 percent.
Commodities Recap
Gold fell to a near two-week low on Tuesday, after its steepest loss since March in the prior session, as a firm dollar and higher equities curbed appetite for the precious metal.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,267.30 an ounce by 3:03 p.m. EDT (1903 GMT), after hitting an early low of $1,257.25, its weakest since April 28.
U.S. gold for June delivery settled down 0.1 percent at $1,264.80 an ounce.
Brent jumped more than 4 percent on Tuesday while U.S. crude settled up more than 2 percent, after a late burst of buying driven in part by expectations that record U.S. crude inventories would not swell by as much as they have in recent weeks.
Brent spiked just before settlement and settled up $1.89, or 4.3 percent, at $45.52 per barrel. More than 6,000 contracts changed hands in the final minute. Brent fell 3.8 percent.
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 1.22, or 2.8 percent, to settle at $44.66.
