Morning Briefing: Markets mixed as greenback weakens

Markets mixed as greenback weakens

World equity markets are mixed so far Thursday as a weaker US dollar and volatile commodity prices are in focus. Gold continues to gain as a safe haven option.

Asian markets closed mostly lower with Japan and Australia taking the biggest hit. Exporters slipped on the Nikkei due to the stronger yen while Sydney’s index despite a surge in employment as mining firms lost value.

China’s main index closed higher following a jump in exports, far exceeding analysts’ expectations.

European indexes are broadly lower with investors weighing world events and comments from President Trump regarding the strong dollar and wanting to keep low interest rates. German consumer prices were flat while UK data revealed strength in the economy in the first quarter but rising inflation a potential risk ahead.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower. The Canadian New Home Pricing Index and Manufacturing Shipments data is due. US jobs and oil rigs data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,591.86 (-0.29 per cent)	-1.39 per cent	+14.99 per cent
TSX Composite	15,648.40 (-0.50 per cent)	+0.67 per cent	+14.46 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,315.94 (-0.45 per cent)	-0.69 per cent	+14.98 per cent
German DAX	12,117.04 (-0.31 per cent)	+1.06 per cent	+20.85 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,514.76 (+0.15 per cent)	+1.64 per cent	+7.77 per cent
Japan Nikkei	18,426.84 (-0.68 per cent)	-6.15 per cent	+12.49 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
55.83 (-0.05 per cent)	53.07 (-0.08 per cent)	1287.80 (+0.76 per cent)	U$0.7554
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7588

Yellen could get second term at Fed

President Trump said Wednesday that Fed chair Janet Yellen could get a second 4-year term when her current tenure expires in February.

He said that he had respect for Yellen when asked is she was “toast” by the Wall Street Journal. With the Fed chair keeping interest rates at historic lows, despite gradual increases, it would perhaps be beneficial for Trump to maintain the status quo during his planned period of infrastructure investment.

He had previously criticized Yellen but it appears that he may be softening his monetary stance to be more mainstream.