US index futures are down 0.2%-0.5% this morning in what appears to be normal consolidation following Friday’s gains of 0.1% to 0.5% that drove the Dow and the S&P 500 to new daily and weekly closing highs. Economic and earnings news in North America has slowed a bit for now, but picks up again later in the day. Overseas, the Dax, FTSE, and Nikkei are all flat which the Hang Seng rose 0.4%. The US 10-year treasury note yield is also steady as it settles into the 1.50s% area.
It has been an active weekend in currency markets. Bitcoin plunged in weekend trading back under $60,000. Currently trading near $57,000, Bitcoin is down 8.0% from Friday but up from its weekend lows which were somewhere between $51,000 and $55,000 depending on the source. The US Dollar is taking it on the chin today falling 0.4% against the Euro, 0.6% against the Yen and 0.7% against the Pound. The Canadian Dollar is holding steady against the greenback ahead of today’s Canadian budget at 4:00 pm EDT which is widely expected to include more stimulus spending. The size of the projected budget deficit and any comments related to taxes could potentially impact sentiment toward the Canadian Dollar and Canadian stocks in impacted groups over the next 24 hours.
Somewhat surprisingly, precious metals have not taken advantage today’s US Dollar and cryptocurrency weakness, with gold down 0.1% and silver down 0.6%. Copper is having a strong day in commodity action, rallying 2.1%. WTI and Brent Crude, on the other hand, are down 0.3%.
Positive earnings reports continue to trickle out from the US with Coca-Cola ($0.55 vs street $0.50), and Harley-Davidson ($1.68 vs street $0.88) both beating expectations. IBM headlines results tonight after the close. This week, earnings season expands out from the big banks into several other sectors including airlines, railroads, semiconductors, drillers, consumer products, and others.
