China NBS Manufacturing PMI eased to 49.1 in February, Services PMI improved to 51.4

EUR/USD remains under pressure on Monday, hovering around the 1.1600 level as the NA session winds down. On the flip side, the US Dollar is finding fresh momentum with risk appetite fading and markets scaling back expectations for a December Fed rate cut.

GBP/USD is slipping again on Monday, extending Friday’s pullback and orbiting around 1.3160 as the Greenback stages a decent bounce. In the meantime, sentiment toward the Sterling remains cautious, with UK fiscal concerns still hanging over the market and keeping buyers on the defensive.

Gold accelerates its losses at the beginning of the week, trading dangerously close to the $4,000 yardstick per troy ounce. Recent comments from key FOMC officials showed little enthusiasm for additional rate cuts, leading traders to pare back expectations for another Fed move, and leaving the yellow metal without a clear catalyst for now.

Bitcoin offers subtle signs of recovery, trading above $95,000 at the time of writing on Monday. Altcoins, including Ethereu and Ripple, are making recovery attempts, following in BTC's footsteps, with ETH hovering below $3,200 and XRP trading around $2.27.

At the start of a new week, the market mood has calmed. US stock futures are pointing to small gains later on Monday, after a sharp sell off on Friday, European stock index futures are mostly flat at the start of the week.

Chainlink trades above $14.00 on Monday, as the cryptocurrency market generally recovers from last week’s volatility. LINK faces declining retail interest amid a weak derivatives market characterised by suppressed Open Interest.