In London, traders are on tenterhooks as all eyes are firmly on the Far East. The London market is holding up relatively well considering stocks in Hong Kong lost over 1% as protesters continue to clash with riot police, while HSBC and Standard Chartered are still suffering because of the unrest. Royal Bank of Scotland announced that its loan impairments would be significantly lower than estimated, and this could be the turning point where toxic assets turn good. Interdealer broker ICAP has lost close to 2% in early trading, as declining volatility and a risk adverse stance from big banks has hit revenues. Wolseley shares are trading higher after the building materials supplier posted a
healthy set of figures. Its profits jumped by 52%, the divided has been increased and the icing on the cake was the £250 million share buyback scheme. We have heard of companies blaming poor revenue on bad weather, now Next is blaming soft sales on good weather, as the stock is down 4%.
In the US, we are expecting the Dow to open 20 points higher at 17,091, as US index futures have pulled back some of last night’s losses.
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AUD/USD remained bid above 0.6500
AUD/USD extended further its bullish performance, advancing for the fourth session in a row on Thursday, although a sustainable breakout of the key 200-day SMA at 0.6526 still remain elusive.
EUR/USD faces a minor resistance near at 1.0750
EUR/USD quickly left behind Wednesday’s small downtick and resumed its uptrend north of 1.0700 the figure, always on the back of the persistent sell-off in the US Dollar ahead of key PCE data on Friday.
Gold holds around $2,330 after dismal US data
Gold fell below $2,320 in the early American session as US yields shot higher after the data showed a significant increase in the US GDP price deflator in Q1. With safe-haven flows dominating the markets, however, XAU/USD reversed its direction and rose above $2,340.
Bitcoin price continues to get rejected from $65K resistance as SEC delays decision on spot BTC ETF options
Bitcoin (BTC) price has markets in disarray, provoking a broader market crash as it slumped to the $62,000 range on Thursday. Meanwhile, reverberations from spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to influence the market.
US economy: slower growth with stronger inflation
The dollar strengthened, and stocks fell after statistical data from the US. The focus was on the preliminary estimate of GDP for the first quarter. Annualised quarterly growth came in at just 1.6%, down from the 2.5% and 3.4% previously forecast.