UK, Eurozone data will be key focus today. Global commodity paused its recent fall and had neutral trade yesterday. Gold rebounded slightly after today’s U.S. January PPI data which came stronger than expected. The report showed persistent inflation pressure that was hawkish for Fed poli.
Higher than forecasted U.S. Jan producer prices data and hawkish comments from Cleveland Fed President Mester pushed the 10-year T-note yield up to a 1-1/2 month high of 3.867%.
The dollar climbed to a six-week peak against a basket of currencies after the strong U.S. data, weighing on oil as a strong dollar makes the greenback-denominated commodity more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Initial jobless claims dipped to 194,000 people in the week ending on February 11, according to Labor Department data on Thursday, inching lower from a downwardly revised figure of 195,000 in the prior week. Economists had predicted that the reading would climb to 200,000.
MCX Gold Future was able gain 0.10%, and settled at 56228 while Comex Gold future down 1.09%, and settled at $1836.01an once. MCX Silver settled at 65633, up 0.20% while Comex Silver down 0.20%, settled at $21.56.
Crude oil traded neutral yesterday as traders weighed the conflicting factors of increased confidence in the Chinese demand recovery and a large build in U.S. crude stocks.
The crude market started on a positive note Thursday following the news that China’s January air passenger traffic rose 34.8% from a year earlier, according to the country’s aviation regulator
U.S. crude futures settled flat at $78.02 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell by 0.65% and settled at $84.61 a barrel.MCX Crude settled at 6504, up 0.20%.
Base metal has paused its recent fall and recovered slightly following the China demand hope. Copper up 1.20%, Aluminum recovered 0.30%, and ZINC up 0.20%.
Copper was also set to break three straight weeks of declines as China, the world’s largest copper importer, flagged more stimulus measures to shore up economic growth. The move renewed optimism over a Chinese economic recovery after the country relaxed most anti-COVID measures earlier this year.
Today Economic calendar
At 12.30pm – Retail Sales m/m will be released. Forecast -0.3% Vs previous -1.0(expect to have negative impact on Euro and bullions).
At 1.15:pm – French Final CPI m/m. Forecast 0.4% Vs previous 0.4% (expect to have a neutral impact on Euro).
At 2.30:pm – Eurozone Current Account. Forecast 5.1B Vs previous 13.6B (expect to have a negative impact on Euro).
At 7:pm – Canada Foreign Securities Purchases. Forecast -1.25B Vs previous 12.76B (may have a negative impact on dollar).
IPPI m/m, forecast -0.1% Vs previous -1.1% (may have a positive impact on dollar).
At 7:pm – U.S Import Prices m/m. Forecast -0.1% Vs 0.4% (may have a negative impact on dollar).
Building Permits, forecast 1.35M Vs previous 1.34M (may have a positive impact on dollar).
At 7.15pm- FOMC Member Bowman Speaks may bring clutter for dollar. At 8.30pm – CB Leading Index m/m will be released. Forecast -3 Vs previous -0.8 (may have a negative impact on dollar).