- Indices move higher in Asia and Europe.
- GBP/USD takes a hit after poor retail sales.
- US jolts and comments from Fed’s Harker and Quarles to come
This morning poor data hit cable (GBP/USD) hard and the pair trades around 0.24% lower for the day now. UK Retail Sales MoM came in at -0.6% below the analyst consensus of 0.5% and the previous was also revised lower to -0.8%.
In general, the greenback (USD) has made a decent comeback against most of the majors and take note that gold, USD and stocks are all in positive territory today.
The indices are in positive territory after Chinese Premier Li stated that the Chinese government will continue with tax cuts and this is an extra boost after the White House said the same thing yesterday. EZ inflation readings just came in line with expectations at 1.3%, nothing to see here.
The DAX us trading 0.74% higher and the FTSE is nearly 1% to the good after GBP weakness helped the cause. There have been some earnings in the US with Schlumberger beating Q4 EPS and revenue estimates. US futures are also pointing to a higher open.
Interestingly, major commodities are also in the green with gold trading 0.28%, copper has caught the risk on bug trading 0.71% higher. WTI (oil) is also trading higher but under the psychological $60.00/bbl level.
One afternoon piece of data hit the wires: US Building Permits (Dec) 1.416M vs exp 1.468M.
Later in the session, we have US jolts, Michigan data, Baker Hughes rig count and comments from Fed’s Harker and Quarles.
Back