Market Update – Damage has been done!

The damage from the Fed has been done and fears of an upshift to a faster pace of rate hikes this month, along with an even higher terminal rate and for a longer period of time, saw yields cheapen further.  ADP and JOLTS showed a still hot labor market. USD steady at 105.60, Treasury yields nudged higher overnight, as did JGB rates ahead of the current BoJ meeting.The curve inverted further to -108 bps from -104.8 bps Tuesday, the most inverted since 1981. BOC left the policy rate unchanged at 4.50%, a tie for the highest rate since 2007 and indicated it would continue its quantitative tightening strategy.

Overnight: China’s Feb consumer inflation slowed (1.0% from 2.1%), Producer deflation deepened. In Japan Kazuo Ueda nomination as the next central bank governor was approved, signing off on a new leadership that will be tasked with steering a smooth exit from ultra-loose monetary policy.

USD hovers near 3-month high at 105.66 now. Euro held 1.0520 floor, Sterling at 1.1850. Yen gained some ground against USD, pullback to 136.60. The Loonie lost some ground, but is recovering with USDCAD at 1.3820 (4-month high)
Stocks – US100 rose by 0.40% to close to 12,252. The US500 +0.14%. The US30 dropped -0.18, slid to 32,740 today.
Commodities – USOil – extended losses to $76.19. Steady today below PP at $76.70, as US crude stocks fell 1.7 million barrels (more than expected) and hopes for China demand (China’s crude oil imports fell 1.3%) contended with worries that more aggressive US interest rate rises would slow economic growth and dent oil consumption.
Gold – in a tight range at $1811-$1816. Ahead of Jobs Gold may bounce to $1,825 before falling towards Feb. 28 low.
Cryptocurrencies – BTC – below 50-DMA, retests at $21,536. Key supports at Feb low at 21,280 and year’s gap (19,888-20,350).

Today – US Initial Jobless claims.

Biggest FX Mover @ (07:30 GMT) CADJPY (-0.49%). Plummeted to 98.99. MAs aligned lower, MACD histogram & signal line remain well below 0 and falling RSI 35 but flat, H1 ATR 0.137, Daily ATR 0.729.

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Andria Pichidi

Market Analyst

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