Trading action across stocks, bonds and commodities overnight has had the air of indecision. The first half of this week has been very quiet for economic and corporate news, leaving investors to wait on what could be a big week for central bank news.
Starting tomorrow with the European Central Bank, many of the world’s largest central banks who haven’t already met this month are holding their scheduled pre-summer meetings including the US Fed next Wednesday, plus the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and Swiss National Bank. The Fed and the ECB meetings could be particularly notable with investors looking to them for indications of whether the current wave of tightening may be accelerating, slowing, or pausing.
The US 10-year treasury note yield is still hanging around 3.0% this morning. US index futures are down 0.2%-0.4%, giving back some of yesterday’s US major index gains of 0.8%-1.0%. In overseas trading, European markets are down with the Dax and the FTSE both sliding 0.6%, while in Asia, the Hang Seng soared 1.1% and the Nikkei climbed 1.0%.
Commodity and currency trading is mixed again today. WTI Crude Oil is up 0.8% trading at $120.00/bbl, while Gold is up 0.1%. Copper, on the other hand, is down 0.3% and cryptocurrencies are sliding again with Bitcoin down 1.2%.
In earnings news today, Canadian discount retailer Dollarama beat analyst expectations on earnings ($0.49 vs street $0.37), with same store sales growing 7.3% over year.
