Image Source: Pexels
 

Mixed Market Performance Into Month End

Asian equities were unable to muster any meaningful upside momentum, as month-end flows failed to ignite risk sentiment, the handover from Wall Street was marginally positive, after recovering the majority of Friday’s losses investors pared risk exposure into the close leaving the benchmark indices closing well off best levels on the day, the Nasdaq was the outperformer driven by a 5% gain in Tesla, on news that the German production plant has achieved weekly production of 4000 units ahead of schedule.

The data docket has nothing of note for the European session, investors will once again focus on a bevy of central bank speakers. UK investors are now concerned that UK rates may increase by another 75 basis points despite earlier Bank of England signals that they may be close to a terminal rate, markets will be seeking guidance on this narrative, however, most of today’s comments from BoE officials are likely to be focused on other topics, as such, investors will be more focused on tomorrow’s comments by BoE Governor Bailey, which may provide further clues as to the UK rate path. In the US, markets will parse comments from Fed speakers for indications of whether they should be concerned about a larger 50bp rate rise at the FOMC’s March meeting, it opted for a 25bp increase at its February meeting and until last week a similar-sized move was also being priced in for  March, but now that seems to be less of a certain given the recent data stateside, especially with Friday’s hotter than expected PCE print, the preferred Fed inflation gauge.

The US consumer confidence reading for February will be eyed for any signs of a retreat after the rebound seen in recent months. The pickup in gasoline prices argues for a pullback, this is countered by the employment environment as consumers remain reassured by the continued strength in wages. Overnight, investors will be keen to digest China PMI data with many market watchers looking for further green signs of growth, driven by strengthening demand as the impact of the removal of Covid restrictions should be starting to feed through to the data.

FX Options Expiration New York Cut

• EUR/USD: 1.0500 1.3b 1.0530 656m 1.0625 559m
• GBP/USD: 1.1850 854m
• USD/JPY: 134.50 600m 136.00 592m 137.50 850m
• AUD/USD: 70.00 1.1b
   

Overnight News of Note

• Gold Prices Set For Monthly Loss As U.S. Rate-Hike Bets Dent Appeal
• China's Yuan Trades Around 2-Month Low, Market Focus Turns To Key 7 Mark
• Morgan Stanley: US Dollar, Rates Key To Equities’ Direction
• Australian Retail Sales Rebound, Keeping Pressure On RBA
• Japan Factory Output Falls As Global Slowdown Hits Production
• BoJ’s Uchida Warns Of Negative Economic Impact Of Easing Tweaks
• BoJ's Wakatabe Warns Secular Stagnation Risk Has Yet To Pass
• China’s Consumer Prices May Rise 2% In February - Securities Daily
• China Feb. New Loans May Fall To 1.6t Yuan From 4.9t Yuan - Daily
• Foreign Investment In China Slumps To 18-Year Low - Nikkei
• ECB’s Lane: Case For 50nps Rate Hike In March Remains Solid
• Fed's Jefferson: "No Illusion" Inflation Fight Will Be Quick
• Muted Reception In Belfast To Brexit Deal After Months Of Malaise
• More Than $1tn Of Risky US Loans Still Shackled To Libor As Deadline Looms
• Oil Steadies On China Growth Hopes, Gold Set For Monthly Loss On Hike Bets
• Toshiba $15 Billion Deal Leaves Global Buyout Firms On Sidelines
• Occidental Raises Spending Budget, Delays Direct Air Capture Launch
• Canada's Baytex Energy Nears $2.5 Bln Deal For U.S. Peer Ranger Oi

(Sourced from Bloomberg, Reuters and other reliable financial news outlets)
 

Technical & Trade Views

SP500 Bias: Intraday Bullish Above Bearish Below 4020

• Primary support is 3885
• Primary objective is 4384
• Below 3880 opens 3835
• 20 Day VWAP bearish, 5 Day VWAP bearish

(Click on image to enlarge)

EURUSD Bias: Intraday Bullish Above Bearish below 1.0620

• Primary resistance is 1.0805
• Primary objective is 1.0430
• Above 1.0860 opens 1.09
• 20 Day VWAP bearish, 5 Day VWAP bearish

(Click on image to enlarge)

GBPUSD Bias: Intraday Bullish Above Bearish below 1.21

• Primary resistance  is 1.2265
• Primary objective 1.1785
• Above 1.2265 opens 1.2337
• 20 Day VWAP bearish, 5 Day VWAP bearish

(Click on image to enlarge)

USDJPY Bias: Intraday Bullish above Bearish Below 135.50

• Primary support  is 133.50
• Primary objective is 137.26
• Below 133.40 opens 132.80
• 20 Day VWAP bullish, 5 Day VWAP bullish

(Click on image to enlarge)

AUDUSD Bias: Intraday Bullish Above Bearish below .6785

• Primary resistance is .7030
• Primary objective is .6635
• Above .7050 opens .7150
• 20 Day VWAP bearish, 5 DayVWAP bearish

(Click on image to enlarge)

BTCUSD Intraday Bias: Bullish Above Bearish below 23800

• Primary support 2100
• Primary objective is 26700
• Below 20300 opens 19500
• 20 Day VWAP bullish, 5 Day VWAP bearish

(Click on image to enlarge)

More By This Author: