Microsoft and Alphabet are leading stocks higher in early US trading. The NASDAQ index is the biggest gainer. The Dow Industrial Average is trading near unchanged. A snapshot of the markets shows: Dow Industrial Average average up 35 points or 0.10% at 38124.65 S&P index of 31.66 points or 0.64% at 5080. NASDAQ index up 205 points or 1.31% at 15816. The small-cap Russell 2000 is trading up 4.08 points or 0.21% at 1965.28. Big gainers include: Google up 10.02% Microsoft up 2.76% Amazon up 1.79% Super Micro Computers up 2.34% This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive ..read more

The major US stock indices are trading higher in premarket trading, but off the highest levels. Dow Industrial Average averages is virtually unchanged with a small gain of 12 points S&P index is implying gain of 33 points or 0.66% NASDAQ futures are implying a gain of 146 points or 0.83% For the trading week, the major indices are going into today's trade with gains. The S&P is looking to snap a three week decline while the NASDAQ index is looking to snap a four week decline: Dow Industrial Average is up 0.26% S&P index is up 1.63% NASDAQ index is up 2.16% Shares of Microsoft a ..read more

The US core PCE data came out a little more tame than what was probably feared by the market. US yields are below are a bit lower. The premarket US stocks are still higher but off their highest levels. The US dollar has seen fluctuations up and down. In this video I look at the technicals of the three major currency pairs POST the news, and outline the bias, risks and targets. The news is out. The markets have initially reacted. What next? Find out in this video what key levels will help drive the short-term/medium-term momentum This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com ..read more

Monday The PBoC left the LPR rates unchanged as expected: 1-year LPR 3.45%. 5-year LPR 3.95%. The SNB raised the minimum Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR) from 2.5% to 4.0% with the change going into effect from 1 July 2024: "Liabilities arising from cancellable customer deposits (excluding tied pension provision) will in future be included in full in the calculation of the minimum reserve requirement, as is the case with the other relevant liabilities. This revokes the previous exception whereby only 20% of these liabilities counted towards the calculation." That is a change to the National B ..read more

Prior 2.8% (unrevised to 2.8%) PCE Core YoY 2.8% vs 2.7% estimate PCE Core MoM 0.3% vs 0.3% estimate. Prior MoM +0.3% unrevised to 0.3% Headline PCE 2.7% vs 2.6% estimate Headline MoM PCE 0.3% vs 0.3% expected For the full report CLICK HERE Consumer spending and consumer income for March: Personal income 0.5% vs 0.5% estimate. Prior month 0.3%. Personal consumption 0.8% vs 0.6% estimate. Prior month 0.8% Real personal spending 0.5% vs 0.5% last month (revised from 0.4%). The core PCE rise was 0.32% actually. This is actually better than was feared. It looks like the higher PCE from yesterd ..read more

As the North American session begins, the AUD is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest. The JPY is lower across all the major currencies after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained its interest rates at approximately 0-0.10%, a decision made unanimously with a 9-0 vote. Notably, the BOJ removed a key statement from its monetary policy, no longer specifying the purchase of about 6 trillion yen in Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) per month, indicating a subtle shift in its quantitative easing strategy. This follows a significant rate hike on March 18, the first in 17 years, suggesting a cautious ..read more

Headlines: USD/JPY returns to the highs for the day after flash in the pan drop USD/JPY hits the skids in fall to 155.00 USD/JPY ramps higher as Ueda loses control BOJ governor Ueda says chance of a prolonged weakness in the yen is not zero BOJ governor Ueda says will adjust degree of monetary easing if underlying inflation rises BOJ governor Ueda says will continue to watch impact of FX on economy, prices SNB's Jordan says central bank has been successful in fighting inflation France April consumer confidence 90 vs 92 expected Eurozone March M3 money supply +0.9% vs +0.6% y/y expected ICYMI ..read more

SNB chairman, Thomas Jordan, says that they do take climate change very seriously but notes that: "We should not give the impression that we can solve all the problems of the world with monetary policy." He also adds that the central bank takes into account all risks with its investments and that they do have exclusion criterias when making investment decisions. This of course is related to protests against the SNB, with environmental groups demanding for the Swiss central bank to offload investments in firms that are believed to be linked to global warming and climate change. This article was ..read more

Yesterday, the Nasdaq Composite opened lower following a selloff caused by surprisingly high Core PCE data in the US Q1 GDP report. The market started to fade the move right at the open and eventually finished the day almost unchanged. Today we conclude the week with the US PCE report and judging by yesterday’s price action, we might see another rally at least until the new month data next week changes the sentiment. Nasdaq Composite Technical Analysis – Daily Timeframe On the daily chart, we can see that the Nasdaq Composite yesterday opened lower but eventually rallied all the way back to th ..read more

If anything else, it shows that: 1) The drop earlier wasn't likely any intervention check or otherwise from Tokyo. I mean, the timing of the move was already suspect as mentioned at the time. And that is arguably the giveaway now after the fact. It is definitely easier to digest and make sense of the move two hours later of course. So, what could it have been? 2) The pair is definitely in a rather abnormal state at the moment. Plenty of traders are staying sidelined in fears of being hammered down by Tokyo. As such, perhaps larger flows would lead to exacerbated price movements - at least more ..read more