Top daily news
Equities markets are mixed currently after technical shares sold off Wednesday despite optimism about the economic recovery by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Apple shares lost 2%, Tesla dropped 4.82% Wednesday after Elon Musk announced that customers could now purchase its electric vehicles with Bitcoin.
Forex news
| Currency Pair | Change |
| EUR USD | +0.59% |
| GBP USD | -0.07% |
| USD JPY | +0.1% |
| AUD USD | -1.7% |
The Dollar strengthening has halted currently ahead of the US Labor Department report at 13:30 CET expected to show 727 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 770 thousand the previous week. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, gained 0.26% Wednesday as Markit reported US factory activity expanded in March amid strong growth in new orders.
Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD sustained their sliding yesterday despite euro-zone statistics bureau Eurostat report euro zone business activity unexpectedly grew in March. Both are little changed against the Dollar currently. AUD/USD continued its sliding while USD/JPY started climbing Wednesday with Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently while yen is lower still.
Stock Market news
| Indices | Change |
| Dow Jones Index | +0.02% |
| Nikkei Index | +1.14% |
| Hang Seng Index | -0.13% |
| Australian Stock Index | +0.17% |
The US stock futures are up currently after ending lower on Wednesday despite the Federal Reserve chair Powell’s comment the most likely case is 2021 will be "a very, very strong year." The three main US stock indexes booked losses ranging from 0.01% to 2.0%. European stock indexes are mixed currently after a mixed session Wednesday with mining and construction stocks leading the gains while auto shares fell.
Asian stock indexes are mixed today with Nikkei leading gains while Chinese shares fell led by tech amid reports US securities regulator is introducing measures that would remove foreign companies from US stock exchanges if they do not comply with US auditing standards, and require them to disclose any government affiliations.
Commodity Market news
| Commodities | Change |
| Brent Crude Oil | -0.29% |
| WTI Crude | -0.44% |
Brent is pulling back currently. Prices jumped Wednesday after Suez Canal ship grounding. Ten tug boats struggled Wednesday to free one of the world’s largest container ships after it ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal for more than a day. Prices rose despite the US Energy Information Administration report of a crude stockpile build of 1.9 million barrels last week. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 5.9% but is lower currently. Brent crude rallied 6% to $64.41 a barrel on Wednesday.
Gold Market News
| Metals | Change |
| Gold | -0.01% |
Gold prices are little changed today. April gold rose 0.5% to $1733.20 an ounce on Wednesday - first gain in 3 sessions on safe haven demand.