Forex
The strongest to weakest of the major currencies

The GBP is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest as the North American session begins.

The GBP is reacting bullishly on the back of the rate hike by 15 basis points to 0.25%. The BOE kept the QE purchases unchanged at 895B (unanimous).

The Federal reserve yesterday kept the rate unchanged but did increase the level of taper to $30B from $15B. The expectations is that the purchases will be close to $0 by the end of March (assuming the world does not blow up). The USD is mostly lower in trading today.

The ECB rate decision is ahead with no change in rates expected. Will they adjust the asset purchase plan? The omicron variant muddies the water a bit of course.

US stocks are higher again after the "relief" rally yesterday after the FOMC decision. The Nasdaq index rose over 2% yesterday while the Dow rose 1% and the S&P rose 1.6%

IN other markets, the morning snapshot is showing:

  • Spot gold is up $7.18 or 0.4% at $1784
  • Spot silver is up $0.10 or 0.5% at $22.16
  • WTI crude oil futures are trading at $71.18. Yesterday the price settled at $70.87
  • Bitcoin is trading at $48,774 after trading as high as $49,449 earlier today. The price remains below the key $50,000 level

In the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are higher:

  • Dow industrial average futures are implying a 325 point gain after yesterday's 383.25 point rise
  • S&P index is trading up up 40 points after yesterday's 75.74 point rise
  • NASDAQ is trading up 121 points after yesterday's 327.94 point rise

In the US debt market, the yields are mixed with the shorter end lower and the 30 year up 2.3 basis points.

US yields
US yields are mixed

In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are higher across the board.

European yields
Benchmark 10 year yields in Europe are higher