The US Dollar has been enjoying a renaissance of sorts this week with gains largely down to US data not being bad at all.
Looking at the data this week, the sales rate for US new homes spiked back to levels last seen in early 2022.
The Swiss franc is sharply lower on Thursday. In the North American session, USD/CHF is trading at 0.8013, up 0.78% on the day.
The week kicks off on a mixed note. Last week's Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cut gave markets a boost, but news that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will begin reducing its ETF holdings unsettled global risk sentiment on Friday.
MKT INTEL VIEWS: NVDA delivered a solid print (rev +56%y/y) but the stock is down as this was the smallest % increase in 2 years and results were a bit light of expectations (see our spec sales take here). The stock market reaction across Asia Tech seems to suggest the AI trade remains intact, although reports that China chipmakers are aiming to triple AI chip output next year also helped (within SHCOMP, Tech is the only sector in the green this morning as 85% of stocks are lower).
Stocks ended down, while the dollar strengthened as traders awaited auto tariffs to be announced by President Donald Trump. Treasury yields, meanwhile, inched higher as investors weighed potential exemptions to those tariffs. Oil prices jumped on reports of a dip in U.S. crude oil inventories. Gold eased but remained above the $3,000 per ounce level.
The UK CPI was weaker than expected in February at 2.8%yr compared to 3.0%yr in January. Core inflation edged down from 3.7%yr to 3.5%yr, but services inflation held up at 5.0%yr. However, decrease in both was mainly driven by weaker core goods inflation, while services inflation, which the BoE officials follow closely, was unchanged at 5%yr.
Stocks struggled with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touching one-month lows as a dour consumer confidence report put mounting economic uncertainties into sharp relief and prompted a selloff. "This is clearly a risk-off day and a continuation of a risk- off month," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
