Today was not supposed to be about Greece but no-one told Mr Varoufakis that, as his comments surrounding the looming Greek referendum gained considerable traction around Europe’s trading floors. Stating that he and other members of the cabinet would find it hard to remain in situ should the country vote ‘yes’. The latest polls might have given him a little comfort that his countrymen’s thinking was in line with his own, but the IG binary still strongly indicates a ‘yes’ victory with a 69% chance. BP has finally managed to thrash out an agreement with the five US States affected in the Gulf of Mexico disaster, with today’s sum of $18.7 billion bringing the total costs to date up to almost $44 billion. The amount is arguably not the major aspect digested by the markets, but more the fact that the company has taken a sizeable step towards being able to finally draw a line in the sand over the whole sorry affair.
Due to Friday’s US bank holiday the non-farm payrolls figures were brought forward a day and finally offered an alternative headline grabber to the monotony of Greece. With jobs undershooting expectations you can’t help feel that Greece’s markets stalling sentiment has worked its way across the Atlantic from Europe. Revisions from the previous month have also been downward and this rather backs up the cautionary ‘wait and see’ mindset that has become prevalent with the voting members of the FOMC. As a consequence of today’s data, the inferred expectations of a rate rise in September has now dropped from 17% to just 10% giving greater credence to rates not rising until 2016.
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EUR/USD stays below 1.0800 after upbeat US data
EUR/USD stays under bearish pressure and trades slightly below 1.0800 in the American session on Thursday. The data from the US showed that the real GDP growth for the fourth quarter got revised higher to 3.4% from 3.2%, supporting the USD and weighing on the pair.
GBP/USD stays in daily range above 1.2600
GBP/USD fluctuates in a narrow channel above 1.2600 on Thursday. The better-than-expected Initial Jobless Claims data from the US and the upward revision to the Q4 GDP growth helps the USD stay resilient against its rivals and limits the pair's upside.
Gold clings to strong daily gains above $2,200
Gold retreats from daily highs but holds comfortably above $2,200 in the American session on Friday. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stays above 4.2% after upbeat US data and makes it difficult for XAU/USD to preserve its bullish momentum.
XRP price falls to $0.60 support as Ripple ruling doesn’t help Coinbase lawsuit against SEC
XRP programmatic sales ruling by Judge Torres was completely rejected by another US Court that ruled in favor of the SEC in a lawsuit against Coinbase.
Portfolio rebalancing and reflation trades emerge into Q2
Yesterday’s price action pointed at a possible end-of-quarter portfolio rebalancing as the session saw the laggards of the quarter like Apple and Tesla gain, and the stars like Microsoft and Nvidia retreat.