Equities retreat intact as yield worries persist - 4.3.2021

The Dollar strengthening continues currently ahead of the US Labor Department report at 14:30 CET expected to show 758 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, up from 730 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 0.2% Wednesday despite worse than expected Institute for Supply Management services report for February.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their climbing yesterday despite euro-zone statistics bureau Eurostat report final euro zone composite PMI reading for February came in at 48.8, up from 47.8 in January and exceeding analyst expectations. Pound is higher against the Dollar currently while euro is down. AUD/USD reversed its climbing while USD/JPY reversed its sliding Wednesday with yen lower against the Greenback while Australian dollar is down currently.

The US stock futures are down currently after extending losses Wednesday. 10-year Treasury notes have risen to 1.477%, heading back towards a one-year high of 1.614% set last week. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak at a Wall Street Journal conference at 18:05 CET today. The three main US stock indexes booked losses ranging from 04% to 2.7%.

European stock indexes are lower currently after a mixed session Wednesday with FTSE 100 climbing 0.8% following British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak’s budget speech announcing additional £65 billion worth of fiscal measures for 2021/22. Asian stock indexes are sharply down today with Nikkei leading losses.